Nobody Can Move for a New Job

/in /by

Well, apparently just 6.9% can and did.

Just 6.9 percent of job seekers who found employment in the third quarter relocated for the new position. That was down from a relocation rate of 13.4 percent in the same quarter a year ago, according to the latest Challenger Job Market Index, a quarterly survey conducted by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. among approximately 3,000 successful job seekers from a wide range of industries nationwide.

The relocation rate has been low for four consecutive quarters, averaging just 7.3 percent since the fourth quarter of 2009. The 6.9 percent figure in the quarter ending September 30 was the lowest ever recorded by the firm, which began its tracking in 1986.

“Continued weakness in the housing market is undoubtedly the biggest factor suppressing relocation. Job seekers who own a home – even if they are open to relocating for a new job – are basically stuck where they are if they are unable or unwilling to sell their homes without incurring a significant loss,” said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

This is a problem. It means that people in FL are going to be screwed until such time as its economy get fixed, because they’re not going to be able to leave. (In the case of AZ, CA, and NV, I would hope that people getting a new job would just walk away.

Yet another reason why simply blaming deadbeats for the foreclosure problem gets us deeper and deeper into an economic hole.

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  1. WilliamOckham says:

    Totally O/T Public Service Announcement:

    The Tim Proffitt who owns the timproffit.com domain is not the Tim Proffitt from Kentucky. The domain owner is a co-worker of mine who is getting loads of hate mail intended for the other dude.

  4. BoxTurtle says:

    My new job (after two years out of work) is 70 miles from my home. I’d move, but I’m buried in the house like most people.

    And there’s a lot of housing on the market in my neighborhood, at least as much vacant but NOT on the market. It’s been two years since a house actually sold in this neighborhood and the owner took at 30% hit on it. At least two of the houses on the market are foreclosure sales. Both had buyers sniffing around, but that just froze when the Big Shitpile was unveiled.

    Boxturtle (And I’m seeing 3-4 fresh deer strikes on my commute each day currently)

    • scribe says:

      If it’s really fresh, you can always stop and put it in the trunk. Assuming that’s legal in your state.

      • BoxTurtle says:

        It is legal, but unwise in general. The deer has not been properly field dressed and the meat will taste poor and can actually be unhealthy. I wouldn’t trust one I didn’t hit myself.

        The cops here will ask you if you want your roadkill and if you don’t it goes to a soup kitchen.

        Boxturtle (not a hunter)

  5. fatster says:

    O/T Only $80Billion, folks.

    Total U.S. intelligence bill revealed for first time
    ‘Most complete disclosure we have ever had’ brings senator’s pledge for cuts

    LINK.

  7. dustbunny44 says:

    Of course you have to blame the deadbeats.
    You can’t blame the bankers, they’re wealthy and couldn’t possibly be the cause of anything unfortunate.

    Yesterday’s NYT had a scary article re: foreclosures in Spain, where apparently after losing your home and/or business (the subject had borrowed for both), you still can owe the bank hundreds of thousands of $. Don’t know how this is possible, and I’ve not seen this info anywhere else so unsure if it’s accurate.
    Seemed like a “you think it’s bad here, be grateful you’re not in Spain” point of order.

    • captjjyossarian says:

      As Sybille mentioned, economist Michael Hudson talks a lot about such problems in Europe. His site: michael-hudsom.com

      In Europe, neoliberal is turning into neofeudal because they don’t have US bankruptcy laws. In some of those nations the public are being turned into eternal debt slaves.

      And since Bush’s 2005 “reform” of US bankruptcy laws, I wonder how the US is going to fair. Traditionally, one of our nations saving graces has been the clean slate of bankruptcy.

  8. sybille says:

    Yesterday’s NYT had a scary article re: foreclosures in Spain, where apparently after losing your home and/or business (the subject had borrowed for both), you still can owe the bank hundreds of thousands of $. Don’t know how this is possible, and I’ve not seen this info anywhere else so unsure if it’s accurate.

    It is. If you have a bit of time, listen to Michael Hudson’s discussion on Guns and Butter (a KPFA Berkeley radio program) from June 16, 2010:
    http://kpfa.org/archive/id/61891

    “‘Europe’s Financial Class War Against Labor, Industry and Government’ with Dr. Michael Hudson. Economic crisis in Europe created by predatory lending; European Central Bank stranglehold on the Eurozone; the Euro; foreign banks decimate Greece’s social structure; Marx’s industrial capital versus fictitious capital; Latvia as a model for the rest of Europe; Hudson’s financial and fiscal plan for Latvia; the Cold War and its ruinous effect on progressive economic thought.”

    Michael Hudson is an economist who works at UMKC and was the chief economic advisor for Kucinich’s 2008 campaign: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hudson_%28economist%29

  9. captjjyossarian says:

    I agree that it’s a complete disaster for employment and the overall economy.

    On top of mortgages being underwater: Who want’s to buy a home if the status of the title is in doubt?

    As far as I can tell, the Obama admin’s housing policy is “let it burn”. In fact, HAMP seems to have sped up the burn.