THE REGIONAL ECONOMIST
JULY 2013
NOTES: The percentages (click here)
on the vertical axis
indicate, for example, that Northern-born black men made in 2000 about 28 percent less than Northern-born white men. Being Northern-born or Southern-born doesn't necessarily mean that the men still live in the North or South, respectively. Samples are derived from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) American Community Survey data on white and black males age 21-60 born in the 48 contiguous states. Individuals with zero earnings are assumed to have potential earnings below the median for their region/race cell and age. Samples are weighted using IPUMS weights where appropriate....
...What driving forces can explain these trends?
Vigdor examined three hypotheses to understand why it appears that the South demonstrated more rapid progress than the North in reducing the earnings gap between blacks and whites from 1960 to 2000.2 While each hypothesis seems to have had an effect at some point throughout the 40-year period, the results of his analysis suggest that much of the "improvement" in the racial wage gap in the South was merely a reflection of changing regional demographics—what he calls "selective migration"—and not of actual improvement in relative earnings for Southern-born blacks. The improvements were the result of blacks and whites of differing abilities moving from South to North and vice versa.
Vigdor's results indicate that selective migration accounted for 40 percent of the South's relative improvement from 1960 to 2000 and all of the improvement from 1980 to 2000. More specifically, the black-white wage gap improved among Southern residents but not for those born in the South....
Cost of living and quality of life are regionally different in the USA.
October 06, 2010 6:30 PM
by Jennifer Ludden
...The government says median income (click here) household is just under $50,000, and you'd think that single people in that category would be the most comfortable. But as Jada Irwin knows, a national median-income salary goes a lot further in some parts of the country than others.....png)
There was a great deal of migration in the USA during the past decade. The country is dividing into rich and poor by region. As income falls migration out of a place one would consider home occurs. Migration does not indicate increased quality of life as one might expect. Most Americans like to better their circumstances and will move to make that happen. But, in the past decade people moved to areas where they could find work regardless of the salary decrease or discomfort with a new regional culture. The reasons people are migrating are somewhat backwards. Basically, people are moving for pragmatic reasons and now reasons of choice.
