They seek it here, they seek it there, they seek it everywhere. But where is employment found?

Abstract

This paper uses a unique possibility to link unemployed individuals’ stated willingness to move with administrative data, giving us the possibility to analyse the effects of mobility on labour market outcome. Furthermore, we can do this not only for those who actually move, but also for non-movers. I find that those who extend their search area in job search geographically do have a higher probability of escaping unemployment. However, this positive effect is not only present for jobs outside the local labour market, as would be expected, but the greatest effect is found on the local labour market. This indicates positive selection; i.e. it is not so much the increased geographic scope per se that increases the likelihood of escaping unemployment, but mainly differences in unobservable characteristics between those who choose to use a larger search area and those who do not.