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Jobs are simply too unstable and difficult to get. Housing has turned out to be a source of wealth and stability. Remote work makes relocating even more unattractive as an option. People relocate for better housing affordability and the jobs follow. I don't see this changing, only accellerating.
Wouldn't this cut both ways though? If your spouse is working remotely, then it should be easier for you to relocate for a job, no?
It definitely will.
I think the main benefiters here is that couples will no longer feel attached to large metros as much as before. There's a lot of good jobs in smaller cities, but how do you ensure that BOTH spouses have a job? In general that was just easier in a large metro. When only considering one, a lot more options open up.
I'd consider moving to the Midwest if we could convert our equity into a cash purchase. However, with a 2.75% fixed interest rate, it does feel like we're kind of trapped where we are for the time being. I do wonder if a big part of this is companies cutting back on relocation expenses. It's not something I've ever been offered, and I did relocate back in 2014 for a job.
Jobs are simply too unstable and difficult to get. Housing has turned out to be a source of wealth and stability. Remote work makes relocating even more unattractive as an option. People relocate for better housing affordability and the jobs follow. I don't see this changing, only accellerating.
There's kind of a level of city that you can't go below as a professional.
I used to live in Indianapolis. If something happened to my current job, I could easily find something comparable in the same area. Here in small town Tennessee, that's not going to happen. It's like I'm an hour outside of Nashville and could somewhat reasonably commute in - I'm two hours away from any other area of consequence.
Many companies are cutting back on remote work and recalling people to the office. Those remote jobs are coveted and highly competitive. Many people aren't going to have a choice but to go back to the office.
A lot of professionals aren't going to want to relocate to small towns that lack amenities or are particularly closed-minded.
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Originally Posted by Phil P
It definitely will.
I think the main benefiters here is that couples will no longer feel attached to large metros as much as before. There's a lot of good jobs in smaller cities, but how do you ensure that BOTH spouses have a job? In general that was just easier in a large metro. When only considering one, a lot more options open up.
Outside of healthcare, government, and onsite services, many small towns and rural areas lack quality white collar, professional jobs. Like I mentioned, I used to live in Indianapolis. That area has about four times the population of the area I live in, but I guarantee it's more than four times the number of white collar jobs.
If you are a professional couple living in the affluent suburbs of Indianapolis, where I'm from is really going to lack in amenities and general day-to-day quality of life compared to there. Yes, the weather and outdoor opportunities improve, but that's about it.
There's kind of a level of city that you can't go below as a professional.
From my POV I wouldnt relocate to rural / small for that reason exactly. However if you are a healthcare worker, trades etc that equation is different.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I currently have 5 direct reports at my job in Seattle, all millennials age 26-32. Of those one is from another city in Washington, two are from Southern California, one from Atlanta, the other from Chicago. The 4 transplants all moved here, found jobs, then got hired by me for more money. Before that I had two others from Alaska, both still work here but took promotions to other departments. All of them were in fact "local candidates" when I hired them. In my 14 years at this job I have only interviewed 2 people that were out of state at that time, and neither was nearly as well qualified as other local people. I wouldn't eliminate someone from another state if they were the best, but we don't pay for relocation except for top executives.
One thing that wasn't captured was military workers. They are moved around a lot, and that's a lot of who's boosting places like Huntsville and Colorado Springs. People still may voluntarily move - though from what I saw in Atlanta, it was largely immigrants who were the ones moving to the new outer ring suburbs - immigrants aren't likely to go to small town america, whereas natives are much more likely to.
The military gets Base Allowance for Housing (BAH), a young 35 yr old Major can get as much as $5K per month for housing in Southern California. These ease the pain from moving.
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Why is this something we should solution though? To me, going from 30% to 1.6% is a testament to better quality of life for workers, more stable relationships and less upheaval. The answer is companies need to figure this all out and learn how to acquire talent where the talent lives, all dispersed across the nation. People should live where they want to be, rather than being forced to move to where the paycheck is, especially when there's not a physical reason for it. Women in the workforce is a good thing, and that's one of the things that makes relocation harder. Mortgages suck, but that's already got a huge thread on the econ board .
If anything, the urban clustering seems to be going the other way. Most companies have like 8 offices where different departments reside across the nation anyways. And the people that go into the office are only there 20 hours a week anyways. A lot of the physical hardware of tech is moving to Ohio or Virginia or Phoenix. And a lot of people like myself latched on to remote work and scattered literally everywhere across the US.
The biggest reason why people aren't moving because they are holding onto the sub-3% mortgage and it would be more than double the rate to replace that mortgage.
More and more CEO are noticing a drop in productivity when employees work remote or WFH, so they're calling the employees back at 100% on-site.
The oldest Millennials are in their early 40s. They're just as likely to have kids and a life they don't want to uproot as anyone else.
Still applies. Plenty of people afraid to move and are living in places they can’t afford because their parents are close. If there were ever any advice to get in your 20’s with zero commitments other than work- move for the job, it will mature you.
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