Labour Migration and Allocation of Human Resources: the Cases of Return and Onward Movements

Abstract

Utilizing the 1990 Population and Housing Census of Taiwan, this paper attempted to examine return and onward labor migration and to identify their determinants by applying a three-level nested logit model. The study found that urban-to-rural movements mainly characterize return migration while onward migration is mostly inter-urban movements. Returnees in general tend to be less “successful" than their onward counterparts in the labor market. Other than the experience of “disappointment" in the market, location-specific capital left behind exerts a strong positive effect on return migration. Onward migrants are rather sensitive to market forces and spatial disparities in economic opportunities. In order to improve the efficiency of relocating human resources, the corresponding policy should focus more on measures that help “open up" market information for the labor force.