This paper utilizes administrative employer–employee data to analyze the effect of job loss on interregional migration and to study how family connections, related to childhood family members and birth region preferences, shape these location choices. The results reveal that job loss due to establishment closures increases the probability of interregional migration by nearly 80 %. While local family member connections and birth region preferences pose substantial obstacles to moving, they do not necessarily lead to relocation in response to job loss. Instead, displaced workers tend to migrate to non-birth regions where they have no observed family member connections, although higher economic gains in these regions may partly offset the loss of utility resulting from these factors.
The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Volume 24, Issue 3, 2024.
