The effect of geographic mobility on male labor-force participants in the United States

We use both fixed-effects and random-effects regression models to measure t he effect of geographic mobility on earnings of labor-force participants in the United States. The results support the human-capital hypothesis: six y ears after moving, real earnings of male labor-force participants are about 20 percent higher than they,would have been had the move not occurred. Men younger than 40, and men with family-unit incomes no more than five times the poverty line, experience even larger benefits from moving. The geograph ic mobility that is characteristic of the United States flexible labor mark et,, in general, is beneficial to the movers.