Vocationally motivated migration behavior in double-income households. An empirical analysis using GSOEP data
Jurges, H.
Zeitschrift für Soziologie 27(5): 358-377
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0340-1804 PMID: 12294533 Document Number: 279320
"Rational-choice or microeconomic approaches to migration behavior are often restricted to analysing the rational action of the (often male) head of household. These explanations do not allow for the fact that migration decisions are frequently made by whole families. In this context, the increasing labor force participation of married women is assumed to be one important reason for declining migration rates in Germany. In this paper, the relative effect of different job characteristics of men and women on the labor migration of double income households is examined using German household panel data (GSOEP). We find a sex related bias in family decision-making, which cannot be accounted for by classical microeconomic models of family migration. Sociological approaches to household decision-making emphasizing the importance of sex role ideologies held by family members can therefore be considered useful complements to purely economic models." (EXCERPT)