Work-related migration and unemployment

"This paper examines the willingness of the unemployed to migrate in order to exit unemployment. The empirical estimation is based on data from the German Socio Economic Panel (GSOEP) from the years 2001 to 2009. Following a bivariate probit approach, results are obtained estimating the joint probability of being unemployed and to move to account for the endogeneity of the unemployment variable in the migration equation. The findings indicate that the probability of moving to exit unemployment is much lower compared to the work related moving probability of employed people. Material and in particular immaterial migration costs for the unemployed group appear to exceed the benefit of moving. Consequently, labour market policy should increase moving incentives for the unemployed and expand the regional interchange of employment agencies." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))