its really hard. I imagine company hiring practices (their growing dependence on recruiting firms) also doesnt help.<p>For instance, the best way to go to a new geography would be to land a job there prior to moving there. Even in data science, supposedly hot job market, I wanted to get a job in san francisco or seattle, but I was living in philadelphia. you hear stories about people graduating from cali universities and companies jumping through windows to get to them, but even though I graduated with a masters in CIS from Upenn ... crickets. I think because most of them recruit through agencies which filter by geography. I had to reach out aggressively to the recruiters themselves, and bypass a lot of the blockers, which took 2 years. Had I not done that, my talent didn't mean as much as where I was.<p>Now, imagine a small towner trying to do the opposite, get a job after they make a move to say, one of the urban centers. most people dont have a lot of savings to begin with, and what would last them 6 months where they are would be depleted very quickly in one of the larger cities. even getting an apartment is harder, you dont have a job? reject.<p>its not impossible, its just really difficult.
“A big factor here is a loss in self-confidence. It takes faith to move.”<p>When I first started dating and generally getting to know other American families on a more adult and intimate level, it often shocked me how low everyone's confidence and motivation levels were. There was always some looming fear of failure, of being wrong, or getting hurt, it was paralyzing.<p>Our culture, the media, the education system, it all cultivates fear, doubt, helplessness, and dependency. Without exceptional influences, we generally produce scared consumers.<p>My parents are both immigrants, and it's had a substantial impact, good and bad. Confidence, motivation, willingness to take on challenges and risks, are not problems for me. But the flip side of that is I'm often quite frustrated by my contemporaries, as I tend to expect the same. These traits seem like part of the bare minimum of being an adult from my perspective, and the average American just seems like an overgrown child in this context. It's quite frustrating.<p>edit:<p>Just wanted to add; one of the things I've most enjoyed about working at tech startups is how effectively they tend to filter out these people.
My armchair guess would be that debt is keeping people chained to particular locations. If you live in a town that no one wants to live in, who will buy your house?<p>If you go bankrupt or have a foreclosure on the record, it can be hard to move to locations with better opportunities. Many jobs require credit checks, so leaving the job you don't want can be a hassle.
Maybe because it actually makes economic sense to stay. Cost of living, mainly for housing, in high-paying regions means that after a certain age you won't realize the benefits of the higher wages since you won't be able to pay off your mortgage before your career ends. In fact rent or mortgage interest may capture all of the salary bump and more.<p>Working a menial job in a depressed area makes a lot more sense when a house there only costs $125,000.<p>I understand that those open to education can have a life transformation in a new city by acquiring new skills. But that's a small number of people.<p>Most people work to live and not the other way around. Some just want three hots and a cot, family, and friends. And that is perfectly alright.<p>Just for fun I searched Bloomberg for this phrase: "why do upper middle class people continue to live in overpriced cities despite having all their needs met". The second result was this one: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-08-12/only-45-percent-of-upper-middle-class-households-are-saving-money" rel="nofollow">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-08-12/only-45-p...</a>. Maybe we are more alike than we realize...
As a broad response to a lot of comments here (and the HN perspective in general), there are many dozens of thriving cities in the US that are not San Francisco or New York City. Moving to a city for opportunity does <i>not</i> mean moving to one of the 10 most expensive cities on the planet.<p>It doesn't even necessarily mean moving to the trendy, increasingly expensive cities, like Portland or Denver or Austin.<p>It can mean moving to places like Charlotte, Nashville, Madison, Lawrence or Savannah. Or maybe Santa Fe, Columbus, Provo or Bend.<p>For most Americans, there is a growing city with colleges, trade schools and unemployment rates below the statewide level within a couple hours drive.
I have family in this situation, of all ages, and I think it's a lack of knowledge about what exists out there. It takes a lot to break with family, tradition, history, and everything you've known, to go to a new place.
> According to a new Brookings Institution report, the largest metro areas—those of 1 million or more people—have experienced 16.7 percent employment growth since 2010, and areas with 250,000 to 1 million have seen growth of 11.6 percent, while areas with fewer than 250,000 residents have lagged far, far behind, with only 0.4 percent growth.<p>So, clearly most Americans don't stay behind when their town has no future. The article should add the qualifier "Some" Americans to avoid a misleading impression.
I'm not from around there but this sounds like a sense of place or a feeling of belonging, perhaps tribalism. From the outside this phenomenon looks a bit odd and will need some explanation from the locals.
I grew up poor, but I was able to move away to San Francisco and get good jobs in tech, and ultimately became successful, and by some standards here, even “rich”.<p>But you know what? The relationships with friends and family I left behind definitely suffered. I now feel distant from everyone, and unfortunately some of my best memories are still from old times when I lived close to these people. I have very few friends here in the city, most my interactions day to day are simple and transactional. I wouldn’t blame anyone for staying behind in their town. I’ve always figured I could move back when money was no problem anymore, but I don’t think that day will come soon, and sooner or later I’ll have to decide where I want to plant roots and start a family, and I doubt any woman here will want to go back to my old town after living in SF. Don’t know what to do really, just hanging on.
<i>“The American dream is kind of to stay close to your family, do well, and let your kids grow up around your parents,” he says.</i><p>This, I feel, is telling. The dream is becoming the hope that your children can live as you did. It's not about each generation doing better; it's about not doing worse. It's about maintaining.
<i>consternation among economists and pundits, who wonder why Americans ... lack their ancestors’ get-up-and-go....loss in self-confidence.</i><p>Nothing valuable about friends, family, community, environment, culture ... so far as these guys can see.<p>And, just maybe, Americans look back a couple of generations to their immigrant ancestors, and see what that was <i>really</i> about.<p>"A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies! A chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure!"
I looked through the comments, and a lot of interesting ideas are presented, but I have to speculate about two additional issues:<p>1. A lot of people are tied down by responsibilities to others, such as parents and relatives who need care.<p>2. If a young person from a rural town has acquired a portable skill such as programming, it's quite likely to be because they already left that town -- to attend college.
Incidentally, the recent tax cut bill removed the individual deduction for moving expenses when moving to a new job. So the financial costs of relocating have increased.
Is it even worth it to post now that this article has been up for a few days? Funny how all of these comments just sit there on a server somewhere. Produced. But what value does it add? Will anyone even look at this?<p>For me it's about the job but I'm sure everyone has their own reasons. I'm secure and don't have to struggle. I apply for jobs and don't hear back, interview and don't get the job, etc. I'd be willing to move somewhere new if I knew I had a job lined up. While savings is good, it's stressful and scary to have no income. It's like holding your breath and eventually panic sets in. Doesn't feel good. I'd love to move to a bunch of different cities but many of those places don't seem to have jobs that fit my background. I'd jump to a new career but not sure I could float the expenses while also saving for the future.
Maybe these people don't want to leave their families & communities and be complicit in destroying their home town just because they can make some more money by doing that, and some economists and journalists they don't know insists that they all have no future.
The elephant in the room here is politics. A better chance of employment is a lot less appealing if it's in a city where you know nobody, there is no sense of community, most people are not at all like you and think people like you are backwards hicks.
If you grew up in a town, and maybe have seen a couple of cycles of better and worse, growth and decline, it's hard to really believe that this time is different. You think, "This will be kind of bad for a while, but we've been through that before. We'll be all right" - because that's all you've known.
A lot of similar things were said about San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake.<p>This is one of the reasons behind the rise of Los Angeles in the early 20th century. Also of note is that after they (temporarily) figured out the water problem, they were able to lure movie investment seeking to escape Edison’s patents on the east coast.
I have lived in several countries and I know I would have a terribly difficult time emigrating from the US and living elsewhere, even if things got really bad. It’s probably the local version of the same thing.
Judging from the comments here, there is a real US <i>ism</i> which I find fascinating. It looks like one that is so obvious to the locals that it is err obvious.
Cost of living due to rampant NIMBYism in the most economically dynamic cities, as well as the feeling of community that would disappear if they were to move.
Really good article - didn't come across as preachy and condescending as a lot of "big media organisation interviews poor white people" stories tend to go.<p>I myself would love to buy a house in a small town. It's a much more realistic option for me than buying in a city. And I'm sure as a programmer I could find a job. But then what happens when - or if - that employer shuts up shop? It's a massive risk.
If this article had been published in 1992 when NAFTA, free trade and immigration were actually being debated, it would have been ridiculed by the establishment as backwards and probably racist anti-globalization propaganda. Even now, questioning the govenment economic policies that directly resulted in this mess lands you on a professional blacklist at 'respected' publications.
I can leave cheaply, hustle remotely, and use my (technically - thanks, Solo 401K!) low AGI to go on Obamacare. Why should I get a "career" in a major city and live hand to mouth while never being able to afford real property?
I attribute the loss of confidence and the old "get up and go" attitude of our ancestor Americans to the complete failure of the culture and the K-12 education system in most rural counties around the country.<p>This trait is now more commonly found in immigrants coming into the United States.
Noticed, recently state or fed money was given to tear down old abandoned factories in small towns in PA. post election. I believe they are trying to bring work in. However, I also believe they don't want the middle age people telling the younger generations that's where gramps worked and earned a livable wage back in the golden era ( Demand Side Economy ). I caught the tail-end as a kid. The factory towns were nice then. I have family members who won't even visit their hometowns, they get sad at the run down appearance and hopelessness 40% unemployment for working age men , tend to believe it's higher. A good job is with a gas lease, timber but not much else.
These are mostly elitist concerns. The ordinary folks on the ground often turn out to be pretty happy. They have a routine life, friends and community and they simply dont care about opportunities at that point.