Migration Regions and Interstate Labor Flows by Occupation in the United States

This paper investigates the migration patterns of occupational groups. The results confirm previous analyses of the differences in movement behavior between occupations but, in addition, show that this variation is a function of the industrial sector of employment. The chief aim of the paper, however, is to uncover the geography of labor flows for different occupational groups using a principal components analysis of interstate flow matrices. The resulting migration regions are homogeneous with respect to the movement behavior of particular classes or labor in each state. Results indicate that migration regions vary by occupation and industry and we argue that these differences reflect job information flows and regional employment structure for various classes of labor. The concluding remarks offer a number of additional avenues for research on occupational migration, and regions in general.