Trading Places

Abstract

This paper reports on some of the findings of a recent study on the employment impact of moving to a rural area. A case study approach is used to elucidate the choices/constraints/compromises encountered by women in in-migrant households to rural and semi-rural parts of the East Midlands, Great Britain. Rural labour markets are quantitatively and qualitatively different from urban labour markets and, while some of the surveyed in-migrant women managed to find jobs following their move, they often experienced downward occupational mobility; others withdrew from the labour market. A number of policy recommendations are also made to improve labour market access.