How High is Geographic Mobility?

Ioana Marinescu and Roland Rathelot write,

The data is from CareerBuilder.com, arguably the largest job board in the U.S., and is broadly representative of the U.S. labor market. Using this data to document the geography of job search, we find that job seekers are more likely to apply to jobs closer to home: a job seeker is 35% less likely to apply to a vacancy that is 10 miles away than to a vacancy that is in the job seekers’ ZIP code of residence. Still, we find that, on average, a job seeker sends 11% of their applications to out-of-state vacancies.

They conclude that there is little lack of geographic mobility.

This may be correct, and I may be wrong that men nowadays are not eagerly moving to where jobs can be found, or into occupations (truck driving, construction) where jobs currently are available. But I would pick some nits about this particular paper.

1. My guess is that CareerBuilder.com is probably not a go-to web site for low-skilled, unemployed males. I amya be wrong, of course.

2. An average of 11 percent out-of-state applications could still mean that a large number of visitors to the web site apply to 0 out-of-state vacancies.

10 thoughts on “How High is Geographic Mobility?

  1. This is normal and to be expected, no?

    Workers apply for a job that will be better than their current job. If you work 15 miles away from home now then getting the exact same job 5 miles away from your house is a better situation at almost no cost (moving 10 miles closer to your job is fairly expensive). Shortening a commute is almost a free lunch for workers, so you would expect a person who is generally happy with their situation to still occasionally browse and apply for jobs near them.

  2. Younger workers are much more mobile so it is would be much higher than that among them. Much less incentive for someone older with other ties and probably facing lower wages.

    • You mean the ones that are growing fastest, even if not as fast as they could, as opposed to those not growing but accommodative.

  3. I would love to move out of the Atlanta area, but the thought of selling my house and moving my family and all of our stuff to another state makes me really sleepy.

  4. I loved historian Susan J. Matt’s 2011 book “Homesickness: An American History.”

    In summary: 19th Century Americans moved a lot for their careers, but the culture was highly sympathetic to how emotionally difficult this was for them. In 20th Century America, in contrast, you were supposed to move and just suck it up. Nobody wanted to hear about your homesickness.

    It appears that in 21st Century America, although homesickness is still not treated with respect by the culture, Americans are quietly rebelling against constant moving.

    Here’s my review.

    http://www.vdare.com/articles/homesickness-theres-a-reason-stand-and-delivers-escalante-returned-to-bolivia

  5. _The American Condition_ was one of those books written by _Economist_ writers / publishers that came out around 1990 / 91.

    They quote de Tocqueville:

    “In America a man builds a house for his old age and then sells it before the roof is on…”

    The longer quote is worth pondering–should be easy to find full text

  6. “We got tractor pulls and Red Man chew
    Corporate relo-refugees who need love too”

    .Robert Earl Keen – “Out Here In The Middle” Lyrics via MetroLyrics

    (Moi, I just know the James McMurtry version from “Live in Ought Three” )

  7. I know of tenured university faculty in Big Ten College Towns (I’m thinking Iowa City) who had 5 children and not a single one remained in-state. The closest probably would have been in Chicago, but Twin Cities, Colorado, and Texas have tended to lure Iowans recently (California used to). Iowa exports people, but other states probably do so more (Dakotas until recently).

    I don’t know if Steve Sailer is still reading this–the annual “All Iowa Picnic” in Long Beach, California lasted most of the 20th century. It may have died out by now. Other states had a similar picnic.

    The populaton of Southern California by Midwesterners is well known.

    _Hollowing out the Middle_ treated the exodus of the many people from rural Iowa–I don’t recall how far people were moving. Often they were moving from an area near Waterloo Iowa but were still within a three hour’s drive of home.

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