Moving motivated by work or proximity to family and labour market outcomes in the Netherlands

Abstract The classical human-capital model of migration posits that internal migration should lead to improved individual labour market outcomes. However, later empirical and theoretical work has emphasised that the outcomes of migration may be positive for some, but negative for others, depending on, for example, gender and the motive for moving. We investigate the labour market outcomes after moves motivated by work, moves motivated by proximity to family, and moves motivated by both work and family at the same time, compared with not moving. We use data from the Netherlands’ Housing Surveys of 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2018 matched with register data ( N ~ 350,000 person-years). We find that men’s and women’s moves for work, and moves for both family and work, are positively associated with outcomes in terms of individual income, employment, and labour supply (hours worked). We do not find such positive associations for moves motivated by family proximity only, but we hardly find negative associations. We do not replicate the finding of previous research for Sweden that moves for family proximity were associated with an increased likelihood of transitions out of unemployment. However, we find some evidence that women’s moves motivated by both work and family proximity are associated with an increase in labour supply.