Residential mobility and unemployment in the UK

Langella, Monica ORCID: 0000-0001-7711-416X and Manning, Alan ORCID: 0000-0002-7884-3580 (2022) Residential mobility and unemployment in the UK. Labour Economics, 75. ISSN 0927-5371

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Abstract

The UK has suffered from persistent spatial differences in unemployment rates for many decades. A low responsiveness of internal migration to unemployment is often argued to be an important cause of this problem. This paper uses UK census data to investigate how unemployment affects residential mobility using small areas as potential destinations and origins and four decades of data. It finds that both in- and out-migration are affected by local unemployment - but also that there is a very high ‘cost of distance’, so most moves are very local. We complement the study with individual longitudinal data to analyse individual heterogeneities in mobility. We show that elasticities to local unemployment are different across people with different characteristics. For instance, people who are better educated are more sensitive, the same applies to homeowners. Ethnic minorities are on average less sensitive to local unemployment rates and tend to end up in higher unemployment areas when moving.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/labour-econo...
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Authors
Divisions:	Economics
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
JEL classification:	J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies > J60 - General R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R2 - Household Analysis > R23 - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology > Z10 - General
Date Deposited:	05 Jan 2022 12:09
Last Modified:	17 Apr 2024 18:15
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/113323

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