Relatively different. The dependency of internal migrants’ selectivity on the place of destination

In the two recent decades internal migration in Mexico has developed a new pattern. One of the most important changes experienced is that whereas in the past most migrants had a rural origin, nowadays they tend to come from an urban area. In addition, the places of destination have diversified. Despite these transformations, migrants are still an auto-selected group that differ from non-migrants in their socioeconomic and sociocultural characteristics. Several works have documented this selectivity. Nevertheless, all of them treat migrants as if they were a homogeneous group and as if they were going to the same place. In this paper we explore the different patterns of migrants’ selectivity according to their place of destination. Our results show that migrants, as a group, are more likely to be female, young and more educated than natives, but that there are three different patterns of migrants selectivity. Most importantly, migrants’ selectivity is linked to the labor opportunities and requirements in the places of destination.