not, however, the net migration in itself, which makes the decisive difference for a region’s
development, but rather what, the gross streams look like. For this reason a number of
regressions have been performed, where the gross streams in and out of local labour markets,
based on commuting data, are analysed. The years, which were investigated, are 1991, 1993,
1996 and 1997 - years that are highly unlike one another with regard to economic upswings
and downturns. The analysis in this chapter is based on Johansson & Persson (2000).
The database consists of data on each individual and their status in the beginning and end of
the above mentioned four years. The “labour market “careers” are recorded as:
1. Employed (persons with incomes and officially registered as employed)
2. Unemployed (persons receiving unemployment benefits)
3. Student (persons receiving study grants)
4. Other (persons with no personal incomes except social security)
In Tables 1-4, a comparison has been made of the determining factors for in- and out-
migration in relation to the various migration classes in the age interval from 16 to 64 years.
The migration variables are expressed as ratios, i.e. the number of in- or out-migrants in
relation to the population size of the in- or out-migration region.
In interpreting the results it should be kept in mind that certain migration streams between
local labour markets can be small and sometimes almost non-existent. This means, for
example, that interpretation of migration to and from unemployment must be made with a
degree of caution. This applies especially for the year 1991, when the crisis of the 1990s still
had not struck with full force and unemployment was still relatively low. The form of the
model is as follows:
lnY = ? + ? 1lnX1 + ? 2lnX2 + ............ + ? nlnXn
The dependent variables (Y) are:
In-migration from work, unemployment, studies and “other” activities
In-migration to work, unemployment, studies and “other” activities
Out-migration from work, unemployment, studies and “other” activities
Out-migration to work, unemployment, studies and “other” activities
Total in- and out-migration