Childhood Geographical Mobility's Role in Shaping Educational and Occupational Attainment by Age 30 in Finland.

Patricia McMullin , University of Turku
Jani Erola, University of Turku
Aleksi Karhula, University of Turku

Residential mobility and internal migration play an important role in shaping modern European societies. Families often move for various reasons, including family breakdown or better employment opportunities. Frequent relocations can potentially disrupt children's education, leading to lower academic achievement with possible knock-on consequences for future career opportunities. Using high-quality full population register data, this study aims to investigate the relationship between childhood geographical mobility both between and within municipalities on the educational and occupational attainment of young people born in Finland between 1987 to 1990. The data allows us to follow individuals’ migration histories in childhood and their educational and occupational attainment until the age of 30-33. Preliminary findings suggest that frequent relocations during school-age years, whether within or between municipalities, are associated with lower educational attainment, especially for those who move multiple times. However, this effect is mitigated when family circumstances before school age and concurrent life-course events, such as parental union dissolution or job loss, are considered. When it comes to occupational attainment the negative associations are reversed when one's own educational level is taken into account. Overall, the data suggests that the link between moving and early occupational attainment is primarily mediated by its impact on education with those who come from more highly educated backgrounds and those who themselves have obtained higher levels of education more harmed by having experienced multiple moves during school.

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 Presented in Session 41. Flash session Internal Migration: temporalities, socio-economic and health outcomes