America’s great standstill

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Published Date 8/18/2025

“Go west, young man.” When newspaper man Horace Greeley used those words long ago, he was talking about opportunity. Mobility. He would not, however, have applied them to today’s economic snapshot. Why? Because according to Wall Street Journal’s Konrad Putzier and Rachel Ensign, Americans are experiencing their lowest mobility rates in recorded history.

The journalists speak of the economic ripple effects that threaten the nation's traditional dynamism. “Only 7.8% of Americans moved in 2023, the lowest rate since Census records began in 1948, compared to roughly 20% who moved annually in the 1950s and ‘60s.”

None of this is the result of a single factor, however. The frozen housing market is creating a cascade of problems; growing families cannot upgrade their homes, empty-nesters cannot downsize, and first-time buyers remain locked out entirely.

Many homeowners secured favorable mortgage terms around the time of the pandemic, when rates were low. Now? They know they may never get that deal again and are staying put. Moving to a larger home could easily double monthly payments, even for families desperate for more space.

You wouldn’t think today’s job market would be a factor, but you’d be wrong. Remember that post-pandemic hiring boom — back when workers could name their price? Well, the employment landscape has cooled dramatically. “A measure of hiring, quits, and layoff activity across white-collar industries fell to its lowest level since 2009,” say the journalists. “The probability of switching employers in any given month has dropped from 2.8% in the late 1990s to 2.3% in the 2020s.”

They refer to it as an "insider-outsider divide,” where current employees cling to their positions while new graduates struggle to break into the workforce. All those kids still giddy from throwing their graduation caps in the air? Right now they are underemployed — more than three times as likely to remain underemployed a decade later compared to those who quickly secure good jobs.

Putzier and Ensign use the case of a recent University of Pennsylvania engineering graduate who applied for more than 200 jobs, accumulating credit card debt while living with his girlfriend's family. Oh, he did get an offer at last. But it required relocation to another state — without assistance and offering a salary insufficient for the move. So he declined. Eventually, he found local work, but his experience illustrates what today’s opportunity snapshot looks like.

The journalists found that expensive housing discouraged so many workers from relocating for better jobs that it weighed on U.S. gross domestic product. “When people cannot move for job offers or to cities with better opportunities, they typically earn less. When companies cannot hire talent from different states, corporate productivity and profits suffer.”

Why all this at once? First off, the U.S. population has aged, and older people move less frequently. More households are now dependent on two earners, making relocation more challenging. The biggest drop, however, has occurred in local moves within the same county, which have declined roughly 47% over the past three decades, according to the journalists.

But what, you may ask, about the pandemic-era surge in relocations to the suburbs and remote areas, where workers could buy a home at half the price while enjoying a healthy remote worker income? Temporary. “Despite well-publicized stories of urban flight, the overall trend toward decreased mobility continued,” says this report. By 2024, movement rates remained near historic lows.

Housing affordability, of course, plays a major role. The journalists point out that for much of the 2010s, a median-income family buying a median-priced home spent 30% or less of their earnings on housing costs. That share has now jumped to 39%.

This mobility crisis particularly impacts young workers as they attempt to launch careers. The promise that college degrees guarantee employment has proven to ring hollow for many recent graduates who find themselves overqualified for available positions, yet unable to access better opportunities elsewhere.

For generations, Americans chased opportunity by moving between cities and states. Companies were once quick to hire and fire compared to their international counterparts. But like a plane whose engine just stalled, many people are in a surreal freefall — trapped in unsuitable housing, unsatisfying jobs, or extended family arrangements while searching for work.

As hiring has disappointed and GDP growth has slowed, the connection between mobility and prosperity is evident. Without renewed movement in both the housing and job markets, America risks losing a key competitive advantage that has historically driven innovation and growth.

WSJ, TBWS

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