Leaving Work, Leaving Home: Job Loss and Socio-Geographic Mobility in Canada

摘要

Poster PresentationThe recent economic downturn magnified a routine occurrence in the Canadian labor market: involuntary job loss resulting from an employer downsizing, moving, or going out of business. Yet, in recent decades, even in times of economic expansion, rates of involuntary job loss have persisted across a wide-range of demographic and labor market groups. Moving is one way individuals may respond to job loss, either to relocate to cheaper housing or in search of work. Drawing on data from the 1996-2010 Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, this article examines the relationship between involuntary job loss and geographic mobility in Canada, and further provides evidence on the types of neighborhoods to which individuals move. I find that involuntary job loss is associated with short- and long-distance mobility and increased risk of selection into materially deprived neighborhoods. Together, the findings establish job loss as both a key life course transition motivating residential mobility and long-distance migration in Canada, and as a trigger event that initiates entry into high deprivation areas.