Determinants of fast repeat migrations of the labor force: evidence from the linked national survey data of Taiwan

Do Internal Migration Experiences Facilitate Migration Intentions and Behavior?

Growing evidence suggests that internal migration experience shapes future internal migration behavior. However, it remains unclear what stage of the decision-making process past internal migration facilitates and whether the impact depends on the distance moved. To advance understanding of the role of past migration, we explicitly and dynamically link migration experiences to the formation and realization of future internal migration intentions by blending the aspiration-ability framework with the learned behavior hypothesis. We empirically test our proposition by fitting a series of logistic regression models to longitudinal microdata from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, which has been conducted annually since 2001. We use a two-step approach by first modeling internal migration intentions and then modeling the realization of these intentions, distinguishing between residential moves, onward interregional migration, and return interregional migration. We find that migration experience is positively associated with both the formation and realization of migration intentions and that the effect of past migration increases with the distance moved and the number of past migrations. These findings suggest that migration experiences accumulate over the life course to predispose individuals toward subsequent migration. Finally, we show that the effect of past migration is not the result of a lack of social capital among repeat migrants-a finding that reinforces the importance of conceptualizing internal migration as a life course trajectory rather than a series of discrete events.

Return and Onwards Migration in Canada and Australia: Evidence from Fixed Interval Data

Analysis of return and onwards migration flows has typically relied upon lifetime migration definitions. Both Canada and Australia have collected data on usual place of residence both one and five years prior to the census, which provide a richer source of information on return and onwards moves. Utilizing data drawn from complementary sources, this article examines the incidence, composition and spatial patterning of return and onwards migration at the state and provincial level in Canada and Australia over the period of 1986–1990–1991. Results indicate a high degree of symmetry in these processes between the two countries. While many of the findings are consistent with those derived from analysis of lifetime data, we find that one quarter to one third of return moves were to the original (1986) dwelling, indicating a planned return rather than the failed migration as previous literature has often assumed.

Labor Migration and Allocation of Human Resources in Taiwan: Return and Onward Cases

Utilizing the 1990 Population and Housing Census of Taiwan, this paper attempted to examine return and onward labor migration and to identify their determinants by applying a three-level nested logit model. The study found that urban-to-rural movements mainly characterize return migration while onward migration is mostly inter-urban movements. Returnees in general tend to be less “successful” than their onward counterparts in the labor market. Other than the experience of “disappointment” in the market, location-specific capital left behind exerts a strong positive effect on return migration. Onward migrants are rather sensitive to market forces and spatial disparities in economic opportunities. In order to improve the efficiency of relocating human resources, the corresponding policy should focus more on measures that help “open up” market information for the labor force.