Nobody’s Buying Homes, Nobody’s Switching Jobs—and America’s Mobility Is Stalling

Josue Leon, who recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an engineering degree, applied for over 200 jobs since April, piling up credit-card debt and living in his girlfriend’s family’s home. In many cases, he didn’t even get a reply. 

“It’s been a nightmare,” he said. 

But when the Fort Worth, Texas, resident finally got a job offer, he turned it down: The job would have required a move to Massachusetts, the company didn’t offer relocation assistance and the five-figure salary wouldn’t stretch far. 

“Moving to Massachusetts with almost no money is very difficult,” Leon said. Eventually he landed a job as a magnet technology engineer in Fort Worth, keeping him close to home.

For generations, Americans have chased opportunity by moving from city to city, state to state. U.S. companies were often quicker to hire—and to fire—than employers in other parts of the world. But that defining mobility has stalled, leaving many people in homes that are too small, in jobs they don’t love or in their parents’ basements looking for work.

Others are slapped with “golden handcuffs.” Those who bought homes when mortgage rates were low or have stable white-collar jobs are clinging to them rather than taking big leaps.

This immobility has economic consequences for everyone. The frozen housing market means growing families can’t upgrade, empty-nesters can’t downsize and first-time buyers are all but locked out. When people can’t move for a job offer, or to a city with better job opportunities, they often earn less. When companies can’t hire people who currently live in, say, a different state, corporate productivity and profits can suffer. 

Young graduates who don’t land good jobs soon after college often never really recover from those years of diminished earnings, widening the gap between the economy’s winners and losers.

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