Job-related migration in the Netherlands: The role of geographical access to employment in a polynucleated urban region

Abstract

Over the last few decades, the Netherlands’ economic urban landscape has developed into a polynucleated urban structure. The resulting spatial distribution of job opportunities influences geographical job access at the individual level. This paper addresses the question, to what extent does spatial variation in job access within the Netherlands polynucleated urban structure influence job-related migration? First, it is shown that there are large differences in job access in the Netherlands in both the total number of jobs and in job levels. Scores on job access are higher in strategic residential locations in between the major cities in the polynucleated urban region of the Randstad than in the major cities themselves. Second, using data from the Netherlands Housing Demand survey and logistic regression models, it is shown that the probability of job-related migration decreases as the number of jobs within reach of the residence increases. The analyses control for both individual and household characteristics. The results show that strategic residential locations in between the major cities are as favourable as the cities themselves in terms of avoiding high spatial mobility costs.