Maori/Non-Maori Income Gaps: Do Differences in Worker Mobility Play a Role?

Abstract

We estimate a model of net migration between Regional Councils for three age cohorts to test whether or not there are significant Maori/non-Maori differences. We find little evidence of a statistically significant link between worker mobility and labor market conditions. Only in the case of the youngest individuals (20-24 years of age) do we find a significant wage response, and this wage response does not differ significantly between Maori and non-Maori. Unemployment is no case found to be significantly related to migration. We conclude from this that differences in worker mobility and attendant differences in the propensity to take advantage of spatially dispersed economic opportunities has limited potential for explaining Maori/non-Maori income differentials.Labor and Human Capital, J61, R11,