A note on the benefits to current residents of state employment growth: Isthere an industry mix effect on migration?

Although there is evidence that regional employment growth benefits current residents, an unexplored aspect of this relationship is the industry compo sition of the growth. Using 1981-1991 migration data for the 48 contiguous U.S. states, this paper examines whether the industry mix of employment gro wth matters for migration. We find that state employment growth that result s from having a larger share of nationally fast-growing industries leads to less net in-migration compared to growth that results from each industry i n the state growing faster than its national average. Therefore, state empl oyment growth that is attributable to its mix of industries yields greater benefits for current state residents.