The "exit option" of labour migration from East to West Germany: individual and contextual determinants of geographic mobility of unemployed workers

Abstract

"The study investigates determinants of labour migration from East to West Germany from 1992 to 2001. Using a discrete-time logistic hazard model for multilevel data, individual characteristics as well as regional context characteristics are estimated as determinants of out-migration. Amongst others, the empirical analysis led to the following results: At the individual level, higher income increased the migration rate whereas the level of education had no net effect. Moreover, the migration rate depended on work-related social networks. But especially individual unemployment heavily increased the migration rate. In addition, the rate decreased with larger distances from the border to the West, and was much higher in regions of the borderland. Finally, a Cross-level interaction showed that women benefited more than men from the favourable location at the border to move to West German labour markets." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))