Transferred jobs: a neglected aspect of migration and occupational change.

Abstract

Migration and occupational change in the contemporary United States are often explained as reflecting an impersonal market process whereby geographic differences in wages and salaries motivate persons to overcome a reluctance to change both jobs and place of residence. Little is known about job-related migration in which employers directly control this process by linking employment and opportunity structures at origin and destination locations. Based on the 1973 to 1977 Annual Housing Surveys of the United States, about 800,000 household heads were relocated annually by their employers. This suggests that the rate of relocations has doubled since the early 1960s. The income and education levels associated with relocated household heads indicated that job transfers are most likely to occur among the higher socioeconomic status occupations but nonetheless appear to be frequent at all levels. The increasing frequency of job transfers suggests the increasing use of direct labor allocation and corporate management through socialization and selection. Further research on corporate relocation practices and policies is suggested.