Nor has migration declined more in areas where workers are more likely to have underwater mortgages because of particularly large declines in housing prices. A second factor, the one most often cited in support of the structural unemployment hypothesis, is skills mismatch.
While it is quite plausible that certain features of the current labor market reflect some skills mismatch contributing to a rise in structural unemployment during the recession, closer examination reveals that they explain less of this increase than might first appear.