Search Time, Unemployment, and the Migration Decision

Abstract

Several studies have shown that the unemployed in distressed regions of the U.S. have been reluctant to move to areas of greater employment opportunities. By establishing a negative correlation between weeks of job search and the probability of migration, this study is able to provide a partial explanation for the lack of a positive and statistically significant relationship between out-migration rates and the unemployment rate in the local labor market. It is our contention here that those regions that have experienced long periods of high unemployment possess a long-term unemployed population that is less likely to undertake a geographic move.