Leaving Work, Leaving Home: An Analysis of Neighborhood Mobility of the Unemployed in Canada

Nicole Denier, McGill University

This paper explores the neighborhood choices of unemployed internal migrants in the period following job loss. Previous research indicates that the unemployed are more likely to move than other labor market participants, but little is known about the neighborhoods to which they move. Focusing on neighborhood relocation decisions in the context of employment status accounts for both non-wage welfare losses related to unemployment and the role of income shocks in generating neighborhood change. Using data from the 1999-2007 Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, which provides detailed individual employment and migration histories, merged with tract level data from the 2001 Canadian Census, I estimate the change in neighborhood median income of residence associated with a move.