The Impact of Geographical Mobility on Class Attainment. A Longitudinal Study of Internal Migrants in Europe

Nazareno Panichella, University of Milan
Roberto Impicciatore, University of Bologna

This study examines the relationship between geographical mobility and social stratification, focusing on its impact on occupational attainment. Using two waves of the SHARE dataset, it covers respondents from Sweden, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, and Italy, born between 1930 and 1965. The analysis focuses on internal migrants, distinguishing between onward and return migration. It incorporates three innovative contributions: Firstly, differentiating those who moved once, returned, and onward migrants. Secondly, evaluating the effect of mobility on labor market attainments over time, considering periods before and after the move. Thirdly, utilizing CEM techniques, treating migration as a 'treatment' and 'pruning' observations to simulate a randomized experiment. Preliminary findings suggest that geographical mobility boosts employment likelihood more for men than women, with gender differences more pronounced in employment outcomes than in social class attainment. Both men and women face a pre-move employment penalty, but men recover more effectively afterwards, while women only partially recover, failing to regain pre-move employment opportunities. Additionally, both returned and onward migrants show advantages in employment and class attainment.

Keywords: Internal Migration and Urbanization, Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination, Longitudinal studies

See extended abstract.