On immigration, geographic and labour market mobility

This thesis consists of three chapters. The first one is an empirical assessment of the consequences of post-2004 temporary restrictions to welfare access for some European immigrants in the UK in terms of their benefits take-up and their labour supply. I provide evidence that when access to benefits is restricted, immigrants compensate for the foregone income by working more. This is particularly true for females. Nevertheless, even in the absence of any restrictions, immigrants are less reliant on welfare and work more than their native counterparts. The second chapter focuses on the determinants of geographical mobility of British labour market entrants over the period 1991-2008, with an emphasis on the role of education. Given the absence of an appropriate index for mobility in the data, I compute a continuous measure of distance that is then matched to the individual information. Results suggest that having a degree has a positive impact on the mobility of young adults and, hence, on their labour market opportunities. Moreover, an important role is played by previous mobility experience and some other environmental factors. In the third chapter of this dissertation I evaluate the long-term effects of undergoing job turnover during a woman’s early career on her demand for children. In doing so, I make a distinction between voluntary and involuntary job separations. The empirical analysis is made on a sample of British women who have left education in the years 1959-1986, for which I construct job experience and family formation variables on the basis of retrospective information. The findings imply that women with stronger preferences for children might self-select into more rewarding career paths, possibly in pursuance of better labour market conditions that can guarantee a more adequate child rearing.