Assessing the Impacts of Mobility Data Collected over Time Intervals of Different Widths on Migration Levels, Spatial Structures, and Age Patterns

Andrei Rogers, University of Colorado
James Raymer, University of Colorado
K. Bruce Newbold, McMaster University

In this paper we describe and contrast the age and spatial structures of migration, by focusing on the generation and distribution components of age- and origin-destination-specific migration flows. In doing so, we particularly explore the contributions of primary, return, and onward migration. The data are drawn from various sources: the 1980 and 1990 U.S. decennial censuses, the 1985, 1990, 1993, and 2000 U.S. Current Population Surveys, and the 1996 Canadian census. Differences between the structures exhibited by U.S. and Canadian data collected over one-year, five-year, and lifetime migration time intervals are examined and contrasted.