Geographic Mobility and the Two‐Earner Couple: Expected Costs of a Family Move

Current evidence indicates that people are less likely to make work‐related moves when their spouses are employed, perhaps reflecting the expected adverse effects of the move on the earnings of the tied spouse. These studies investigated people's expectations about the effect of a job‐related move on the employment opportunities of the tied spouse. Subjects expected that tied moves would have especially adverse consequences for the careers of well paid spouses, with those effects expected to be greater for moves to small towns than to big cities. Findings are discussed in relation to the actual moving trends of two‐earner couples.