The International Family Migration of Swedish-Speaking Finns: The Role of Spousal Education

Abstract

Using population register data from Finland, we study international family migration in the context of moves between two highly developed and gender-equal countries. The focus is on the Swedish-speaking population in Finland, a group with high international migration rates and good labour market prospects in the primary host country, Sweden. The influence of spousal education on emigration and return migration risks is of specific interest. We find that both the wife's and the husband's educational levels are decisive and independent determinants of migration. In families where the wife has a vocational education, the emigration risk is approximately 30 per cent lower than if she has a basic education only, and slightly greater if she is highly educated. The family's return migration is almost 40 per cent higher if the wife has a vocational education, and almost 50 per cent more if she has a higher education. These family-level estimates mirror results based on individual-level data. We argue that, unlike the case for many other countries, the gender blindness of the human-capital-based theory of family migration is not an impediment here. The results highlight that international migration, and particularly circulation as captured by return migration, has not only an individual, but also a family, dimension.

Keywords:

• Family Emigration
• Family Return Migration
• Wife's Education
• Husband's Education
• Gender Equality
• Swedish-Speaking Finns

Acknowledgements

The comments from the anonymous JEMS referees and the seminar participants at the UCL migration conference in April 2011 are gratefully acknowledged.