Companies tightened work-from-home policies and made it more difficult to move
People moving out of state sharply dropped in 2023after it became harder to get jobs working from home.
Nearly 7.6million people aged 1 year and older moved out of state in 2023 from around 8.2 millionin 2022, marking the the lowest level of people moving in the last four recorded years, according to a ConsumerAffairs analysis of the latest population and state migration data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The drop in people moving between states represents a more than 8% decline in 2023 from 2022, the biggest percentage dipgoing back to 2010.
Why are fewerpeople moving out of state?
Thedecline in people moving between states follows a surge in state-to-state migrationspurred by the pandemic, which caused layoffs and allowed more people to get remote jobs that led people to move more freely.
Remote workers aremore likely to move out of state, particularly among younger generations such as millennials, according to a study of 2022 population data by coworking platformYardi.
In 2021, the share of remote workers who moved in the prior yearwas nearly 16% versus around 13% for in-person workers, according to a New York Times analysis of U.S. Census data.
And according to the U.S. CareerInstitute, 36% of remote workers planned a move in 2023, compared with 27% of on-site workers.
Now, working from home has become rarer and stricter company policies havemade it more difficult forpeople to easily move between states.
Back to the office
Companies, such as Amazon and Dell for instance, have recently required their employees to work from the office five days a week.
Remote work accounted for around 10% of U.S. job postings in Dec. 2023, down from a peak of around 20% in April 2022, according to LinkedIn.
Hybrid work, which requires employees to be in the office a certain number of days, has become the new normal after employers dialed back from allowing working from home, LinkedIn said.
The push against remote work, driven by employer concerns about productivity andwastedoffice real estate, means employees aren't able to reap the financial benefits that come from moving to a different state.
For instance, remote workers can often take higher salaries to more affordable states and move places with less burdensome taxes.
Photo Credit: Consumer Affairs News Department Images
Posted: 2024-10-22 01:29:40
