Frozen in Place: Americans Are Moving at the Lowest Rate on Record – The New York Times

Just 4 percent of people in their late 60s moved over the past year.

One result has been a geographic unevenness. Decades ago, less wealthy parts of the country tended to be the ones that attracted the most new residents, because lower rents and wages there drew in businesses, and people were more likely to move to where jobs were. But the economy is now less flexible, with prosperity clustered in larger cities and with businesses and people moving less.

It used to be that poorer places grew faster, but thats gone, said Jay Shambaugh, an economics professor at George Washington University. This is a really different economy than it used to be. Its one where places that struggle continue to struggle.

That is true for southern West Virginia, where the scourge of opioids is tearing through a second generation of families. Johnny Nick Hager, 25, who works as a cook and school bus driver in Mingo County, said he had thought about moving to Tennessee or New York like his friends and relatives who have fled the drugs and joblessness.

There are no jobs in Mingo County its move or bust, he said on Wednesday.

But for now, he is staying put, hoping to help make things better. He is running for county commission in 2020.

I want to try to make a difference in my area before I do leave, he said. If things dont change, we are all going to have to leave.

Changes in the economy have made moving less appealing for some. It used to be that all workers with college degrees or without could count on earning more in denser urban areas. Cities also offered lower-skilled workers better jobs in offices, in factories. An analysis by David Autor, an economist at M.I.T., found that the urban wage advantage is largely gone for less-educated workers. And the jobs that remain for them in cities are in personal services: food, cleaning, health, entertainment, recreation, transportation and repair.

People who are moving longer distances, between counties and between states, are disproportionately college educated, Mr. Frey said. When Tyler Wilson graduated from college last year, he moved back in with his parents in Leavittsburg, Ohio, near Youngstown.

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Frozen in Place: Americans Are Moving at the Lowest Rate on Record - The New York Times