The American Community Survey's Interstate Migration Data: Strategies for Smoothing Irregular Age Patterns

Download

PDF - Pre print Download (192Kb)

Description/Abstract

Age- and origin-destination-specific flows obtained from population samples often contain irregularities. The reason for this has mostly to do with the fact that migrations are relatively rare events. Biases in the analysis of migration flows can arise if these irregularities are not corrected for. Furthermore, accurate migration data are needed to understand population change and migration behavior. In this paper, we illustrate some typical examples of age-specific migration flows with irregular patterns, using the 2000-2005 American Community Survey (ACS) data. We then demonstrate how model migration schedules, log-linear models or a combination of both can be used to smooth the irregularities.