Mobile Nation? Migration and the Effects of Changing Age Structure and Family Characteristics in the U.S., 1981-2001

Kimberlee A. Shauman, University of California, Davis

Despite the popular perception that Americans are a highly mobile population, the rates of long-distance migration have declined over the past 4 decades (Long 1990). While the causes of the decline in mobility have not been identified, changes in the demographic and economic characteristics of the population are likely causes. Demographic explanations attribute the decline to two main influences: (1) changes in family structure, particularly the increasing prevalence of two-earner families; or (2) changes in the age structure of the population, particularly the ?aging? of the population. This paper presents an empirical test of these competing explanations using data from the March Current Population Surveys for the years 1981 through 2001. Results illustrate how observed trends in migration rates are the result of the confounding effects of the changes in family structure during the past 20 years.