Migration and the Employment Status of Married Women * William L. Marr and Frank W. Millerd Department of Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5 Introduction Most studies of interprovincial migration have treated migrants as either heads of households or singles. Their migration decision was hypothesized to be based on the relative benefits and costs to them- selves. The impact of a family was usually viewed as simply an addi- tional cost of moving: however, when the wife is a potential or actua! participant in the labour force, there may be additional benefits and costs to the household. As part of the move, the wife may gain or lose employment or move in or out of the labour force. This paper focuses on these additional benefits and costs by examining changes in the employment characteristics of wives associated with their migration. The importance of wives' employment is highlighted by the fact that migration is often a family phenomenon. Some indication of the relationship between migration and family status is given in Table 1. Over 55 per cent of adult migrants are members of husband-wife fam- ilies. 1 The highest propensities to migrate were shown by non-family persons (those single, separated, divorced, or widowed with no child- ren present); the lowest propensity was shown by husband-wiEe fami- lies, suggesting, among other things, that spousallabour market char- acteristics may be important migration determinants. Previous Research A number of studies in the United States have found significant spousal considerations in the migration decision. Generally, families in * The authors are gratefuJ to Jacques Ledent, Kao-Lee Liaw, and three referees for their helpful comments. The authors are Iisted alphabetically. IThe 1981 Census considered personsliving common-Iaw as married, regardless of their legal marital status. They appear as husband-wife families in the census data. © Canadian Journal of Regional Science 1 Revue canadienne des sciences régionales, Xl:l (Spring/printemps 1988), 119-132 ISSN: 0705-4580 Printed in Canada/lmprimé au Canada