Fertility and spatial mobility in the life course: evidence from Austria

There is a growing body of literature looking at the interplay between an individual’s residential and other careers in the life course. Previous research has mostly studied the impact of partnership and employment changes on spatial mobility. The author focuses on the effect of childbearing on migrations and residential moves. The study is based on retrospective event-history data from Austria, to which intensity (or hazard) regression is applied. The analysis suggests, first, that the birth of a child triggers housing-related and environment-related residential relocations. These are mostly moves within a labour-market area, but there are also migrations from cities to rural areas. Second, growing family size significantly reduces couples’ wishes to and chances of moving over long distances for a job. The event of first conception also induces moves related to partnership formation.