Job-Search Perspectives on Migration Behaviour

Abstract

Although considerable empirical work has been undertaken to estimate interregional migration models, there has not been a corresponding attempt to construct more rigorous theoretical models. For over a decade, Sjaastad's (1962) basic analysis has been unsurpassed. The more recent paper by David (1974), however, attempts to lay a firm microeconomic and risk-analytic foundation for migration models by using concepts arising from job-search theory. His analysis is still quite limited in its perspective on migration, and the present paper attempts to derive a more satisfactory theoretical view of migration. In particular, the various aspects of job-search theory as it has been applied to macroeconomic theory are reviewed and the relevance of these to migration behaviour are assessed. The paper emphasizes (1) differences between search models concerned with wage dispersion and those concerned with job finding, (2) the information possessed by job seekers about different labour markets, (3) alternative search strategies including voluntary job quitting and the migration of unemployed job seekers, and (4) different measures of job-finding probabilities. Although several theoretical models are presented, the main purpose of the paper is to provide a systematic overview of the issues in model design in this important new area of migration research.