Cross‐border commuters: How to segment Them? A Framework of Analysis

Abstract

The removal of barriers to labour mobility and the enhancement of cross‐border mobility are expected to reduce regional disparities by contributing to a more efficient allocation of labour. For some time now, however, researchers have considered borders and cross‐border regions to be marginal zones. Therefore, we contribute to the discussion by providing a qualitative framework for the segmentation of the cross‐border job market, capable of addressing some questions relevant to the management of cross‐border commuting regarding the nature of imbalances that characterize the cross‐border job market and the main factors underpinning the phenomenon. To do so, we focused specifically on the Euroregion “Regio Insubrica”, a cross‐boundary cooperation community between Italy and Switzerland. Nevertheless, the proposed framework may be easily applied to all the existing cross‐border regions across the world in order to help explain the imbalances that exist, and support decision‐makers regarding educational and labour market policies.

Should They Stay or Should They Commute? Explaining Individual Preferences towards Labor Migration

“…In today's economies, jobs are no longer constrained to places where people live. Rather many workers choose to stay at their home locations due to place attachment, schooling, or the housing market (Chilla and Heugel 2022;Comerio et al 2021;Parenti and Tealdi 2021). Instead of moving to the place where they work, they commute, sometimes even across borders.…”