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AbstractThe issue whether regional development can be associated with population driving employment changes or employment driving population changes (do 'jobs follow people' or 'people follow jobs'?) has recently attracted considerable interest. Much of the interest herein stems from alleged inconsistencies in the empirical evidence, which naturally raises questions as for the reasons why.Arguably, the nature of causality differs across space as well as time, while speculations have been rife about a number of methodological issues that may play a crucial role in shaping the research outcomes. In this paper a preliminary attempt is described in clarifying these matters, by focusing on an articulate literature of 37 so-called 'Carlino-Mills studies'. Specifically, a statistically supported literature review, referred to as 'meta-analysis', is provided in which the study results are evaluated and systematically related to a variety of underlying study characteristics. By listing 308 study results reported in this literature, it is revealed that the empirical evidence is conform popular belief highly inconclusive, albeit that most results point towards 'jobs follow people'. The findings of the meta-regression analysis indicate that the spatial characteristics of the data, model specification, and variables measurement in particular affect the research outcomes that indicate the jobs-people direction of causality. No evidence is found that the examination of data referring to a particular time period, population and/ or employment group make much of a difference.