abstract: 'The California San Joaquin Valley labor market appears to be at odds

  with basic economic principles in the sense that despite higher

  unemployment rates and lower wages, it has continually attracted an

  influx of in-migrants, domestic and international. By examining

  county-level data for the last two decades, the analysis in this paper

  is built around two main questions. First, in what proportion does local

  employment growth reduce local unemployment, increase labor force

  participation and attract outsiders who will likely take the newly

  created jobs? Second, to what extent regional migration rates respond to

  regional relative wages and unemployment differentials? Both questions

  aim to gain a better understanding of the San Joanquin Valley labor

  market and the migrants'' decisions to move there, which might shed light

  in the design and implementation of development policies aimed at

  reducing unemployment. Results provide evidence that market forces alone

  are insufficient to correct regional unemployment disparities. Three

  main findings are offered. First, in-migrants workers fill most of the

  newly created jobs. Second, migration seems unresponsive to the

  unemployment level but responsive to changes in farm income. Third,

  migration is sensitive to government-based benefits, property crime

  rates and housing prices. (JEL R11, R23, R58).'
affiliation: 'Avalos, A (Corresponding Author), Calif State Univ Fresno, Dept Econ,
  5245 N Backer Ave,MS PB 20, Fresno, CA 93740 USA.

  Calif State Univ Fresno, Dept Econ, Fresno, CA 93740 USA.'
author: Avalos, Antonio
author-email: aavalos@csufresno.edu
author_list:
- family: Avalos
  given: Antonio
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.2009.00159.x
eissn: 1465-7287
files: []
issn: 1074-3529
journal: CONTEMPORARY ECONOMIC POLICY
keywords-plus: INTERNAL MIGRATION; JOBS
language: English
month: JAN
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '29'
pages: 123-135
papis_id: 75ecb28dda782d82bbac839edcc356fb
ref: Avalos2010migrationunemploymen
times-cited: '0'
title: 'MIGRATION, UNEMPLOYMENT, AND WAGES: THE CASE OF THE CALIFORNIA SAN JOAQUIN
  VALLEY'
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000273887800009
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '20'
volume: '28'
web-of-science-categories: Economics; Public Administration
year: '2010'