Return Migration Trip Progression Ratios: A Period Approach

Fernando Riosmena, University of Pennsylvania

The purpose of this study is to describe the return dynamics of Mexican labor migrants to the U.S. from 1980 to 1996. I devise a life table application to study 'Return Progression Ratios' (RPR), whose construction is analogous to that of period parity progression ratios in fertility analysis. I use data from the Mexican Migration Project database (MMP71) to estimate the ratios and their corresponding mean (censored) durations. These measures potentially represent a parsimonious way to assess changes in migratory dynamics. I discuss the limitations and problems of applying these measures to other migrant populations.