Occupational Structure, Wages, and Migration in Late Nineteenth-Century England and Wales

The proposition that socioeconomic and demographic differentiation are the major activating forces of migration movements is explored. It is shown that the patterns and the extent of such differentials and inequalities among areas largely account for their migrations. Nineteenth-century migrations in England and Wales may be considered a case study of such processes. Inequalities in labor market opportunities, wage levels, accessibility to large consumer markets, the extent of economic modernization, and distance between origin and destination explain a good portion of migration variations among counties and districts during the 2nd half of the 19th century. Thus, it can be argued that socioeconomic structure and technological change provide the background to migration movements in that period. The major mechanism through which 19th-century migration responses operated was the wage differentiation among economic sectors and geographic areas of England and Wales.