The spatial mobility of workers over the course of their working lives – Analyses for rural areas in Germany

Background and Objective

In Germany, significant regional disparities have existed for a long time w.r.t. economic strength and labour market conditions. The mobility of labour is of high importance for the economic development of rural areas and regional disparities.

Therefore, this project analyses migration balances of rural areas in Germany and the determinants of interregional labour mobility. In particular, it focuses on the spatial mobility of workers over their individual working lives, i.e., the likelihood to emigrate from a rural area, to immigrate to a rural area, and subsequent return migration.

Approach

We analyse migration balances of regions and the determinants of labour mobility in Germany.

At the regional level, we do not only consider net-migration rates, but also look at gross-flows. We analyse the heterogeneity of migration balances depending on individual characteristics such as age and educational degree in order to obtain insights on how the human capital endowment of a region changes due to interregional labour mobility.

The analysis of individual decisions to migrate focuses on the likelihood to emigrate from a rural area and the likelihood of return migration. Furthermore, we analyse mobility between different types of regions. We take characteristics of the workers and the regional environment into account and analyse the extent to which the impact of these characteristics changes over an individual’s working life.

Data and Methods

Our analyses are based on secondary data: the Individual Employment Biographies (IEB) of the IAB. We analyse the very detailed information contained in the IAB individual employment biographies of workers by applying descriptive and micro-econometric methods.

Our Research Questions

• Which (rural) regions are especially characterised by net-emigration? Which (rural) regions benefit from interregional labour mobility?
• What are the determinants of the likelihood to emigrate from a rural area, respectively, to migrate between different types of regions?
• To which extent is the regional human capital endowment affected by the spatial mobility of workers?
• What are the determinants of return migration?

Results

"Regional migration balances in Germany are characterized by marked heterogeneity. They vary between and within types of regions, over time and across different groups of workers. Compared to the national average, a larger share of workers moving to rural areas are return migrants. However, a high share of return migrants in total regional immigration from other regions often comes along with comparatively few workers moving into the region, that have not lived there before. The better individual skills match with regional labor demand, the higher is the probability that, for instance, a young worker, who recently graduated at a university (of applied sciences) or completed vocational training, chooses the respective region as residential location. Further regional characteristics that have turned out to be important determinants of individual residential decisions are local public financial resources, cultural offers as well as the (touristic) attractiveness of a region. The probability of leaving a rural region increases with the skill level of a worker while the probability of subsequent return migration is lower the higher the individual skill level is. In general, this has an adverse effect on the regional labor supply in rural regions." (Source: Project brief 2021/30a, doi: 10.3220/PB1636443499000)

Links and Downloads

Project at the IAB: www.iab.de/en/forschung-und-beratung/projektdetails.aspx/Projektdetails/k180301302