Nobody's Pulling Up Stakes Anymore
Episode description
Americans used to move a lot in search of opportunity. But in 2024, the share of Americans who moved at all hit a 76-year low. Barely 2% of us moved across state lines. Some of that is by choice: people are more rooted, and that's not nothing. But when workers stop moving, rich cities pull further away from poor ones, wages stagnate, and the gaps between thriving labor markets and struggling ones get harder to close. And when there’s a shock to a local labor market, moving is an important release valve. Fixing a fraction of this worker mobility breakdown could improve the labor market for everyone.
Chapters:
00:00:33 Opening
00:01:45 Retcon: Trump Accounts & Career Pivots
00:07:27 Terms & Conditions: Spatial Equilibrium
00:09:55 Big Pilcrow: Does it Matter to the U.S. Economy if We Don’t Move from Place to Place?
00:39:10 Executive Orders: Frances Perkins miniseries; Sleep Shaming; Election Day Weekend
00:43:07 Spiritual Sponsors: The National Consumers League motto ("Investigate, Agitate, Legislate"); ACFC’s winning start
READ MORE:
The increasingly mobile US is a myth that needs to move on | Aeon Essays
Who Moves? Who Stays Put? Where’s Home? | Pew Research Center
The Economics of Internal Migration: Advances and Policy Questions
Population & Migration | Economic Research Service
Stranded! How Rising Inequality Suppressed US Migration and Hurt Those Left Behind
- Invest in Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com
- Faces visible on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel. We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy.
- Where’s the party? On our Substack chat.
- Represent your optimist side: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy
- Email your economic questions, concerns, or executive orders to optimist.economy@gmail.com