Migration Determinants and Employment Consequences of White and Black Families, 1985-1990

• Published in: Economic geography Vol. 75; no. 2; pp. 109 - 133
• Main Authors: Lee, SeongWoo, Roseman, Curtis C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Routledge 01.04.1999; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Clark University; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Bgi / Prodig; Black people; Blacks; Censuses; Children; Couples; Economic models; Employment; employment consequences; Employment opportunity; Equilibrium; Expected utility; Families & family life; Family; family migration; Fiscal policy; Households; Human capital; Human geography; Human migration; Husband and wife; Husbands; Labor force; Labor market; Married people; Migration; migration determinants; Migration policy; migration selectivity; Migrations; Population geography and social geography; Race relations; School age children; Social aspects; Social conditions; Social history; U.S.A; United States; White people; Wives; Women's role; Workforce; United States of America; United States > US; Life cycle; Human capital; Model; Probability; Family; Internal migration; Migration factor; Decision
• ISSN: 0013-0095; 1944-8287
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.1999.tb00119.x

This study examines the determinants and employment consequences of white and black family interstate migration within the United States during the period 1985-90. We pay particular attention to selecting intact family migrants from the 1990 PUMS data to eliminate couples who migrated from different origins. Migration status is treated as a selection process and is incorporated into the employment opportunity models. We show that various socioenvironmental and fiscal factors are significantly and disproportionately associated with the location choices of family migrants for both whites and blacks. Expected economic benefits are more important to destination choices by black families than they are for white families. Consistent with traditional family migration theory, the employment prospects of migrant wives seem to play a lesser role than the husbands' employment in family migration decisions for both blacks and whites.