Migration and Long-Distance Commuting Histories and Their Links to Career Achievement in Germany: A Sequence Analysis

Moving and travelling extensively for job reasons is often seen as a way to achieve a successful career. Yet, evidence based on longitudinal data is limited. In this paper, we use a sequence analysis to study typical histories of intensive forms of work-related spatial mobility, i.e. migration, daily and weekly long-distance commuting and overnight business travel (called below 'high mobility'), and their links to career achievement. Using retrospective survey data from Germany, we show that a variety of high mobility histories coexist. While migrations occur mainly in the first years of the professional life, the chances of experiencing long-distance daily or weekly commuting and frequent overnight business trips remain stable over the career. Some evidence was found that long-lasting high mobility is associated with better incomes. Nevertheless, having repeated experiences of high mobility has no positive impact, per se, on managerial responsibilities or socio-economic status. These findings suggest that high mobility has become a 'usual' feature in many job careers and is often a way of combining a distant job with a local attachment to a place, home or community, rather than a way of achieving upward career mobility. This study points out that, besides migration, long-distance commuting and frequent travel for job reasons should receive more attention in longitudinal research on spatial mobility.