On the move: local opportunities and youth migration

Studies of geographical wage inequalities typically find a large role for worker sorting, but little is known about whether this reflects differences in educational attainment across places or selective migration after education. This paper uses administrative data linking school and tax records to study migration in people's early careers. Young workers in England are highly mobile, with 21 per cent living outside their area of origin by age 27, and 30 per cent by age 32. Migration up to age 27 is highly selective: high attainers are more likely to move, and (conditional on moving) more likely to move to high-paying places, in particular London. Migration patterns shift in people's late 20s and early 30s – with large outflows from London balancing out large inflows – but return migration is negatively selected and those leaving London tend to move to prosperous places in the South East. Migration increased in recent cohorts, especially among graduates.