They need to look at another number - mean time job lasted after move.
The cost, both financial and non-financial, of a move is considerable. Moving for a job with questionable job security is high risk. The decline in length of employment affects willingness to move.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has job tenure data back to 2014.[1] Down 16% over that period. I wonder if there's data going further back.
Because the benefits of relocating is grossly unjustified today. Why would you sell your family house to move to an even more expensive city where you can’t afford to buy anything?
eYrKEC2 · 4h ago
Geographic mobility sucks. Why change your social network every 15 minutes for a job. If there are opportunities in your locale, why move? The grass probably isn't greener.
My grandfather did this -- chasing the dream at IBM and my father attended 6 different school districts growing up. They lived in mansions in downtown San Francisco and now he doesn't have a long term friend, because friendships and people are transient and you never know when you have to leave town for the next shiny nickle.
Fuck that.
mmooss · 3h ago
Some people like to see new places, or want to leave their old place.
PicassoCTs · 2h ago
Moving you sacrifice your whole social support network - for dubious rewards.
nine_k · 1h ago
After half-dozen moves, my entire social network, literally all my old, long-time friends, are now remote. Thanks to the internet, we keep in touch constantly, and my friends are as helpful as ever as a support network. They're awesome, no matter what distance separates us.
AStonesThrow · 1h ago
Sadly, in the post-WWII decades, it seems that the American Dream has consisted of getting the hell away from your parents, and/or getting the hell out of this podunk rural town and into the Big City.
Now both of those can be tragedies in their own way. In the 1970s there was a notorious upheaval in TV programming known as "The Rural Purge": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge
Basically, a lot of TV series which were set in rural or pastoral settings, were outright canceled in favor of urban shows, including "fish out of water" fare such as The Beverly Hillbillies. And prime time TV has never been the same since then!
So it was inevitable that there have been waves of urbanization, and commensurate de-ruralization. As people got into STEM, they needed to get off the farm. If it was no longer possible to make a living on a ranch, then people needed to get into the cities. Including minorities such as Black Americans, who may find more opportunity on the fringes of society, and less discrimination or injustice, after a while anyway.
And there has been a streak of independence as well. American kids are raised to resent their parents and long for something else. Sometimes they don't know what that is, just that they can't find it at home. So an American kid, especially the boys, they're conditioned and poised to leave home as soon as they're 18. Go far away to college and stay away. Leave the nest behind and make it on your own [even if your family already lived in a nice big city.]
Even I was infected with this so-called "American Dream", and not realizing how good I had things at home, I wanted to get out of there, get far away, make it on my own, but I couldn't. I couldn't fend for myself and I crashed and burned; I hit rock bottom without my family's support. I never should have left in the first place, but now the deed is done.
In the 1950s the propaganda supported the "Nuclear Family" concept, and extended families started splintering. It's often not cool for parents to live with their married, adult children, or to have a large family house that fits everyone. The kids go away and they hole up in 1BR apartments alone, to fend for themselves independently, for better or worse. Women enter the workforce, willingly or unwillingly.
I would say at this point, that whoever has purchased a home and the land underneath it, they're done moving. Perhaps fewer are looking to purchase homes far away from where they already are. I myself decided I'd never relocate again, back in 1999, because it just wasn't worth it anymore, and also because I found myself in a really ideal location that offered no reasons to leave.
bediger4000 · 9h ago
We've all simply got more possessions than we used to. It's harder to pack it all up.
nine_k · 2h ago
Possessions are overrated. Moving sales are a thing. Keep your family teaspoons, and your favorite coffee mug. Sell your Target-made table and your Ikea-made bookshelf. Buy identical (maybe used) on the opposite coast, or anywhere.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has job tenure data back to 2014.[1] Down 16% over that period. I wonder if there's data going further back.
[1] https://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.t06.htm
My grandfather did this -- chasing the dream at IBM and my father attended 6 different school districts growing up. They lived in mansions in downtown San Francisco and now he doesn't have a long term friend, because friendships and people are transient and you never know when you have to leave town for the next shiny nickle.
Fuck that.
Now both of those can be tragedies in their own way. In the 1970s there was a notorious upheaval in TV programming known as "The Rural Purge": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge
Basically, a lot of TV series which were set in rural or pastoral settings, were outright canceled in favor of urban shows, including "fish out of water" fare such as The Beverly Hillbillies. And prime time TV has never been the same since then!
So it was inevitable that there have been waves of urbanization, and commensurate de-ruralization. As people got into STEM, they needed to get off the farm. If it was no longer possible to make a living on a ranch, then people needed to get into the cities. Including minorities such as Black Americans, who may find more opportunity on the fringes of society, and less discrimination or injustice, after a while anyway.
And there has been a streak of independence as well. American kids are raised to resent their parents and long for something else. Sometimes they don't know what that is, just that they can't find it at home. So an American kid, especially the boys, they're conditioned and poised to leave home as soon as they're 18. Go far away to college and stay away. Leave the nest behind and make it on your own [even if your family already lived in a nice big city.]
Even I was infected with this so-called "American Dream", and not realizing how good I had things at home, I wanted to get out of there, get far away, make it on my own, but I couldn't. I couldn't fend for myself and I crashed and burned; I hit rock bottom without my family's support. I never should have left in the first place, but now the deed is done.
In the 1950s the propaganda supported the "Nuclear Family" concept, and extended families started splintering. It's often not cool for parents to live with their married, adult children, or to have a large family house that fits everyone. The kids go away and they hole up in 1BR apartments alone, to fend for themselves independently, for better or worse. Women enter the workforce, willingly or unwillingly.
I would say at this point, that whoever has purchased a home and the land underneath it, they're done moving. Perhaps fewer are looking to purchase homes far away from where they already are. I myself decided I'd never relocate again, back in 1999, because it just wasn't worth it anymore, and also because I found myself in a really ideal location that offered no reasons to leave.
(The amount of stuff remains large nevertheless.)