Labor Market Mobility and Migration

Wassink Joshua T, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program and SBE's Sociology program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Douglas Massey at Princeton University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the relation between migration and mobility. While extensive research explores patterns of migration and immigrant incorporation in the United States, comparatively little is known about the reintegration of those who return. This project investigates return migrants labor market reintegration and repeat migration behavior. This study will guide policymakers in sending and receiving countries as they seek to monitor international migration and facilitate returnees' labor market reincorporation. The proposed research addresses four broad questions: First, what are the most common labor market trajectories among return migrants? Second, why do some return migrants achieve upward mobility while others drift to the margins of the unregulated economy? Third, how does return migrants' labor market reintegration affect their risk of subsequent internal or international migrations? Fourth, how do return migrants' labor market trajectories and migration behaviors vary across time and space? To address the stated questions, the PI will 1) use sequence analysis to identify distinct labor market trajectories among return migrants; 2) fit hazard models with competing risks to predict entry into different labor market trajectories; 3) test the association between returnees' labor market trajectories and their socioeconomic status - income and wealth; 4) fit multinomial logistic regression models to assess the effect of return migrants' labor market trajectories on the odds of re-migrating to the United States or migrating internally; 5) use stratified models and interaction terms to assess changes in labor market reintegration and repeat migration across time and space. This study makes four contributions to research on international migration and economic mobility. First, using sequence analysis, the PI will map return migrants' heterogeneous labor market experiences. Second, using these trajectories, the PI will determine how theoretical expectations match return migrants' observed labor market experiences. Third, this project advances knowledge about the perpetuation of international migration by examining the relation between labor market reintegration and the odds of repeat or internal migration. Fourth, this project investigates how time and space in turn shape return migrants' labor market trajectories and repeat migration behavior. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.