About 15 percent of mid- to senior-level job seekers across the United States relocate to another part of the country for a new job, according to a survey released by Right Management, a division of Manpower Inc., in late February. Job seekers who relocate, especially people in mid- to upper-level management jobs, are likely to need assistance with their moves from moving, self-storage, and relocation services companies.
The number of job seekers who relocated varied, however, depending on what part of the country they lived in. Some of the regional variations were as follows:
- 15 percent in Connecticut
- 6 percent for the greater Boston area of Massachusetts
- 11 percent in Rhode Island
- 13 percent in New Jersey
- 4 percent in New York
- 14 percent in New York City
- 16 percent in St. Louis, Missouri
- 5 percent in Minneapolis, Minnesota
- 10 percent in the Chicago area
- 12 percent in Milwaukee/Madison/Appleton, Wisconsin
- 14 percent in Denver, Colorado
- 14 percent in Indianapolis, Indiana
- 13 percent in Dayton, Ohio
- 16 percent in Cincinnati, Ohio
- 21 percent in Columbus, Ohio
- 15 percent in Cleveland, Ohio
- 16 percent in Kansas City
- 18 percent in Omaha, Nebraska
- 19 percent in Atlanta, Georgia
For Massachusetts, the survey results were good news, and matched estimates released by the Census Bureau at the end of 2009 (covering the period from July 2008 to July 2009). "Massachusetts has stopped bleeding people to other parts of the country for the first time in years," commented Susan Strate in the
Boston Globe at the time. Strate works at the UMass Donahue Institute, managing the Population Estimates Program. "It's stunning," said Kenneth Johnson, a Carsey Institute demographer and University of New Hampshire professor, in the same article. "I've studied demographic trends for 30 years, and I've never seen domestic migration change as dramatically as it has in the past two years."
Like Massachusetts, Texas is a prime location for people who are relocating for work reasons. The U.S. Census data released at the end of 2009 showed that of all the states, Texas gained the most in population. California followed close behind, as did North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. In terms of percentage of population gained, though, Wyoming did the best. So did Utah, Texas (again), and Colorado. (
Schworm, Peter. "Reversing trend, more are coming to Mass. than leaving it: analysts cite economic resilience, housing dip, lack of jobs elsewhere." Boston Globe, Dec. 25, 2009.)
For most states, though, unlike in Massachusetts, the population trends remain about as they were before the recession began.
"Surprisingly, this trend has not changed much over recent years," said Bruce Maxfield, Right Management's New England market vice president, in the
Boston Globe. "While job seekers were challenged with a tough employment market last year, it is reassuring that relocation choices actually turned out to be consistent with the data tracked prior to the recession."
In some areas, though, the relocation number has risen. In New York City, the number of mid- to senior-level job seekers who choose to relocate has risen three percent since 2007. (For Long Island, though, the relocation rate dropped three percent, down from seven percent in 2007 to four percent in 2010.) In New Jersey, the relocation rate for the same demographic has risen four percent in the same time period. (
"Less than 15 percent of New York City's job seekers willing to leave city," Workforce Management News in Brief, Feb. 25, 2010.)
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