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I noticed that my grand parents all travelled to Kansas City from various parts of the south to find work. They all left home shortly after high school and found jobs in KC. I know a lot of people from my grandmother's generation who all left their hometowns and found work in different cities. I noticed that a lot of younger people I've talked to are all less willing to leave their hometowns to find work. Many just rather grind it out and look for work where they were born. I'm not trying to use this as empirical evidence, I'm more interested in people's opinions. I never thought about this, but I listened to a lecture on youtube from a Libertarian scholar and he said that younger people are less likely to travel out of city/state to find work.
Do you think this is true. If so, why do you think younger people are less likely to travel than their ancestors? I personally love to travel for new jobs, but I never wanted to when I was a younger adult. What is your opinion and experiences?
Somewhere, some sociology grad student has the answer to the original post.
But, a lot depends on your grandparents' circumstances. Was this during the depression? Did they have skills? Did this occur during as the ratio of farm jobs to non farm jobs decreased the greatest?
It's not that we're less willing to travel to find work. It's that the job market is so bad that it's a complete suicide mission to spend money relocating and then looking for a job.
Depends on where you live, I guess. Most of the people from where I graduated from high school never left, but it is a large city with enough jobs to support that. Where my husband grew up, there are very few jobs, so most of the people he knew from high school no longer live there.
My husband and I are millennials. We've moved country and state for work. My siblings are very reluctant to move for work, but would if pushed.
Many are loaded with debt today. In years past, the HS system provided them with the knowledge and skills necessary to hold a job. Unfortunately, the k-12 system today is not held to the same standard. So, those that want to make something of themselves often end up in college, where they sign away their good name in exchange for some additional education to make up for the insufficiency of the system.
How do you leave home when you are in debt 26K on average? That may not seem like a lot in the long run, but when you have little in the bank and a 1st job may pay less than 30K, it must seem impossible. The monthly payments alone may even make it impossible to support yourself on an average starting wage/salary. Even if you do manage, jobs today are not stable. The lay off just as fast as they hire.
I graduated college in CA and within 2 weeks I was in NYC looking for work. I moved with no job, no place to stay- just my car and my clothes.
Got a job, then split as I saw the writing on the wall. Did the exact same thing again to another state. No job, no place to stay. Worked there until again I saw the knife about to come down. Moved back to my home state of CA and started a corp with all the money I was saving.
I'm in my mid 20's.
Kids now don't take risks. After taking a huge risk of entering into university like every adult in America suggested "for a better job," and to watch that investment fall right on it's face, I don't blame them. Also, it's hard to move when there's no job waiting on the other end. Takes a person whose very comfortable with risk and very confident in their abilities and skills to do it. That's not a self serving line, either.
I think a lot of it is the problem with the risk now. Because it costs a good amount of money in most cases now. Back in the older days, it was cheap to move and people had savings. Now our savings went to college and in all too many cases, it has blown up in our faces so we cannot see the reason to move when we have a job now (if possible) and mountains of debt. It's the path of least resistance.
I'm in my late 20s and I'm willing to travel to find work, assuming I have the money, capability and the new city or town suits me. I'm not too attached to being in a place just because it's where I grew up, went to school etc.
I don't know if this is true for young people in particular of my generation or younger. I actually have never thought of this question before.
I think a lot of it is the problem with the risk now. Because it costs a good amount of money in most cases now. Back in the older days, it was cheap to move and people had savings. Now our savings went to college and in all too many cases, it has blown up in our faces so we cannot see the reason to move when we have a job now (if possible) and mountains of debt. It's the path of least resistance.
In the old days, it was cheap to move because all you "needed" was some clothes and maybe a radio, a few old dishes --- you could throw your few possessions into the trunk of a car and head on out. All you "needed" after arriving was an apartment, electricity and maybe a phone line, ramen noodles, beans, and stuff for sandwiches.
Today it costs more money because they "need" lots of clothes, video game players, 52" HDTVs which are more difficult to move and don't easily fit into the trunk of a car. And they no longer can make do with a small apartment and electricity but "need" smart phones with unlimited talk and data and text, and they "need" internet and cable, and air conditioning, many restaurant meals.
When you look at what people had for monthly bills in the past compared with what they "need" to spend now, you can see why it's much harder to relocate.
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