Urban Escalators and Inter-Regional Elevators: The Difference that Location, Mobility and Sectoral Specialisation Make to Occupational Progression

Spatial Economics Research Centre (SERC) Discussion Paper No. 139

47 Pages Posted: 20 Oct 2013

See all articles by Tony Champion

Tony Champion

University of Newcastle - Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS)

Mike Coombes

University of Newcastle - Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS)

Ian R. Gordon

London School of Economics

Date Written: September 1, 2013

Abstract

This paper uses evidence from the (British) Longitudinal Study to examine the influence on occupational advancement of the city-region of residence (an escalator effect) and of relocation between city-regions (an elevator effect). It shows both effects to be substantively important, though less so than the sector of employment. Elevator effects are found to be associated with moves from slacker to tighter regional labour markets. Escalator effects, on the other hand, are linked with residence in larger urban agglomerations, though not specifically London, but also across most of the Greater South East and in second/third order city-regions elsewhere. Sectoral escalator effects are found to be particularly strong in knowledge-intensive activities, with concentrations of these, as of other advanced job types (rather than of graduate labour), contributing strongly to the more dynamic city-regional escalators. The impact of the geographic effects is found to vary substantially with both observed and unobserved personal characteristics, being substantially stronger for the young and for those whose unobserved attributes (e.g. dynamic human capital) generally boost rates of occupational advance.

Keywords: Escalator region; labour migration; elevator effect; city-regions; social mobility; career progression

JEL Classification: J24; J61; J62; R23

Suggested Citation

Champion, Tony and Coombes, Mike and Gordon, Ian R., Urban Escalators and Inter-Regional Elevators: The Difference that Location, Mobility and Sectoral Specialisation Make to Occupational Progression (September 1, 2013). Spatial Economics Research Centre (SERC) Discussion Paper No. 139, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2342282 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2342282

Tony Champion

University of Newcastle - Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) ( email )

Newcastle NE1 7RU
United Kingdom

Mike Coombes

University of Newcastle - Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) ( email )

Newcastle NE1 7RU
United Kingdom

Ian R. Gordon (Contact Author)

London School of Economics ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

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