The impact of internal migration on couples' labor market outcomes: Evidence from Finland

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School of Business | Master's thesis
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Date

2024

Department

Taloustieteen laitos

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Mcode

Degree programme

Economics

Language

en

Pages

48

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Abstract

I explore whether a couple's joint move benefits men more than women in terms of post-move earnings and employment by conducting an event-study analysis of the effects of couples moving across commuting zones inside Finland. I find that couples are more likely to have children just before moving which causes women to leave the labor force more often than men at the time of moving. When comparing the average changes in labor market outcomes after moving and childbirth, I find that childbirth is associated with an average decrease of 60 per cent in women's earnings and an average decrease of 30 per cent in women's employment whereas moving itself seems to have little to no effect in women's earnings or employment. Men seem to be unaffected by both moving and childbirth. Women's earnings and participation decrease already prior to moving, hitting the lowest levels in the year after a joint move. The results suggest that the effect of moving is confounded with the effect of childbirth happening close to moving, meaning that the results point to a role for childbirths in explaining the gender gap in the returns to joint moves.

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Thesis advisor

Warnes, Pablo

Keywords

internal migration, gender gap, child penalty, event study

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202412087634

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[gradu] Kauppakorkeakoulu / BIZ