TRACKING THE BABY BOOM,THE BABY BUST,AND THE ECHO GENERATIONS: HOW AGE COMPOSITION REGULATES US MIGRATION* |
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| Authors: | David A Plane Peter A Rogerson |
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| Institution: | 1. David A. Plane (Ph.d., University of Pennsylvania) is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Geography and Regional Development, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721.;2. PETER A. ROGERSON (Ph.d., State University of New York at Buffalo) Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography, State University of New York at Buffalo, NY 14260. Their research has focused on the spatial structure and dynamics of population systems. |
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| Abstract: | US regional and state migration data from the 1940s–80s, when members of the baby boom generation aged into their years of peak labor force mobility, suggest ways in which changing age composition regulates geographical mobility and interregional migration. Labor supply pressure plays a key role in the dynamics of the national migration system. A “delayed mobility” effect in the 1980s similar to the delayed fertility of the baby boom cohorts appears to be a result of the depressed rates of mobility experienced by members of this generation when they flooded regional labor markets with record numbers of entrants in the 1970s. Recent temporal shifts in age-specific volumes of interregional migration help predict the future pace of migration based upon the projected age distribution of the nation. |
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| Keywords: | migration geographic mobility age composition baby boom |
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