The percentage of job seekers relocating for new employment has fallen dramatically since the late 1980s, when over one-third of job seekers were willing to move for a new position. Just 11 percent of job seekers relocated for work over the last decade, compared to nearly 19 percent of workers who relocated for new positions in the previous decade, according to new data released by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Just over 10 percent of job seekers relocated for work in the first six months of 2018, virtually unchanged from the relocation rate in the first two quarters of 2017. The relocation rate in the third quarter of 2017 was 16.5 percent, the highest quarterly relocation rate since the second quarter of 2009, when 18.2 percent of job seekers moved for new positions. However, by the fourth quarter of last year, just 7.5 percent of job seekers relocated, bringing the annual average to 11.2 percent, according to the firm.
