Testing the return migration element of the 'escalator region' model: an analysis of migration into and out of south-east England, 1966-2001

摘要

According to the three-stage 'escalator region' hypothesis, the final 'stepping-off' stage involves people leaving the region towards the end of their working lives, limiting the economic benefits for the regions to which they move. Drawing on data on migration between the south-east and the rest of England and Wales, however, this paper reveals a more positive picture for these other regions. One in three of the younger people who moved to the southeast between 1966 and 1971 had left it again by 1981, and most of the working-age people leaving the south-east were aged under 30 years.