Who Returns and Why: Return Migration Behavior in Two North Atlantic Societies

This study examines two vital issues in return migration behavior in two populations: (1) the characteristics of return migrants, and (2) their reasons for returning to their homelands. Comparisons between Irish and Newfoundland returnees are made possible by the use of an identical interview schedule. Sex, age and occupational selectivity, years spent abroad, population of foreign and home residence, and emigration intentions are examined and a strong similarity between the two migrant populations is found. The conceptual framework in the second part is a decision model in which a range of factors in the decision to return are examined. Determinants of the decision to migrate are divided into three broad classes—patriotic-social, familial-personal, and economic-occupational—and then subclassified according to push and pull factors. The push-pull model of migration motives is then put into operational terms using an accounting scheme in which the influence of each factor is measured. Again a strong si...