Group-Specific Effects of Interregional Mobility on Earnings - A Microdata Analysis for Germany

Florian Lehmer (1) , Joachim Moeller (2)

1 Institute of Economics
2 Institute of Economics

The paper analyses the relationship between regional mobility and earnings for different groups of workers. Using a large panel microdata set we find negative earnings differentials of movers in the year before migration and strong evidence for significant wage gains through mobility. A decomposition of Blinder/ Oaxaca type reveals different group-specific rewards effects suggesting a positive post-mobility wage differential of movers over the incumbent workforce for some groups irrespective of the region of destination. The existence of a general wage growth effect of mobility appears to be robust and cannot be explained by the time-invariant part of unobserved heterogeneity.

Mots clés: Social Sciences & Humanities

Florian Lehmer, Joachim Moeller. Group-Specific Effects of Interregional Mobility on Earnings - A Microdata Analysis for Germany. Regional Studies, 2008, 42 (05), pp.657-673. ⟨10.1080/00343400701543686⟩. ⟨hal-00514693⟩