Community attachment, job loss and regional labour mobility in Canada: Evidence from the Great Recession
利用加拿大全国社区健康调查与行政税务记录数据，研究发现失业使男性省内迁移概率提高1.4至2.3个百分点，且该效应主要由社区归属感低的个体驱动。
Abstract Labour mobility is an important mechanism to equilibrate regional differences in labour market conditions. Yet, little is known about underlying differences between individuals that explain why some stay in place during times of economic hardship while others in objectively similar situations choose to leave. Using a novel dataset comprising 59,974 respondents of a national community health survey from Canada linked to their administrative tax records, this paper provides new insights into this important issue. Specifically, I investigate the extent to which individuals' objective and subjective ties to their local communities mitigate or exacerbate the decision to relocate following an exogenous job separation. To credibly identify this effect, I exploit variation in regional employment conditions over time caused by construction industry shocks during the Great Recession, based on an instrumental variables approach. The results indicate that job loss increases the likelihood of migrating within the same province by approximately 1.4 to 2.3 percentage points among men. Moreover, this effect is driven primarily by individuals with low sense of community belonging, which indicates “push and pull” between the need to relocate for work and the desire to stay near family and friends.