From Sweden to America: Migrant Selection and Social Mobility During the Era of Mass Migration

Björn Eriksson , Lund University
Martin Dribe, Lund University
Jonas Helgertz, University of Minnesota/Lund University

The aim of this paper is to study the selection mechanisms in the migration from Sweden to the US during the age of mass migration, and migrants’ social mobility in comparison to similar stayers in Sweden. We link individuals across the Swedish censuses 1880-1910 as well as to emigration lists and then to the U.S. full count censuses of 1900, 1910 and 1920. We study selection and social mobility using occupation-based social class and panel regressions. Our preliminary findings suggest that migrants were disproportionally drawn from the working class, and especially the skilled workers. Selection patterns were similar for men and women and for rural and urban areas, but differed in important ways across regions and over time. In the final paper, we will add the analysis of social mobility and compare migrants and stayers using parish-of-origin and sibling fixed effects models to constrain the comparisons.

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 Presented in Session 225. International Migration