IES Blog

Relocation becoming a viable option

Posted on January 17th, 2012 Read time: 1 minutes

A national survey conducted by CareerBuilder revealed many Americans' willingness to relocate for a better career opportunity.

Specifically, 44 percent of respondents said they'd move to a new area for a job, while 20 percent of people who were laid off in the past year found jobs in a new city or state.

"One of the key trends we saw coming out of the recession is the movement of labor in and out of markets across the U.S.," said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.  "Workers have had to expand their job search geographically and employers in need of hard-to-find, skilled talent have had to recruit across state lines."

Employers displayed a willingness to perform HR outsourcing services in order to attract new talent. Thirty-two percent said they'd pay to relocate new employees this year, while 19 percent would counter a smaller first-year salary with a signing bonus as incentive.

Nearly one-third of workers who relocated last year reported making new friends as the top benefit, while 27 percent noted earning a higher salary gives their family more spending options.

A similar study from Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that 9.4 percent of job seekers relocated for new positions during the first half of 2011 – an increase from 7.6 percent during the same time period in 2010. 

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