Call for Papers - RGS-IBG 2012 Edinburgh 3.-5. July 2012
The spatial and job mobility nexus ‒ Migration and securing security
Session Convenors: David McCollum (University of St Andrews); Darja Reuschke (University of St Andrews).
The nature of labour market trajectories in post-industrial economies has been the focus of much academic interest, as have the moves that individuals make for career motivated reasons. However, less attention has been paid to the interrelation between spatial and job mobility, especially in the context of unease surrounding job security in the face of economic restructuring and more recently the global economic crisis. Existing evidence generally points to a positive association between career driven migration and labour market outcomes, although some research suggests that economic restructuring has blurred the correlation between spatial mobility and occupational outcomes. Conventional understanding postulates that individuals move to generate greater returns for their labour. However, the global economic crisis may have reconfigured the nature of the spatial and job mobility nexus in significant ways, for example through uncertainty perhaps encouraging individuals to seek to retain their current employment rather than pursue opportunities for short-term upward mobility elsewhere through migration. Thus financial security might become more important in influencing the choices that individuals make when weighing up options regarding spatial mobility.
This session seeks to explore the relationship between spatial and job mobility, specifically in the context of migration as a strategy to secure individual and household security. It also attempts to explore the outcomes of mobility from the perspective not only of career progression but also in terms of the extent to which migration secures financial security. The two key themes of interest are thus: security and migration decisions and migration and security outcomes.
Papers are welcomed which provide empirical or theoretical insights into these themes. We are seeking paper contributions on topics that include (but are not limited to) the following:
‒ Spatial mobility or immobility as a strategic response to (in)security
‒ Whether or how migration (or immobility) secures security
‒ Housing (in)security and migration
‒ Career strategies, job security and migration
‒ Changes in employment status and security as a driver or consequence of internal migration
Abstracts of 250 words (including the paper title and the author's contact details) should be sent to David McCollum ([log in to unmask]) or Darja Reuschke ([log in to unmask]) by 27th January 2012, 4pm.
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