The trend of jobs moving out of the cities is expected to continue, in the near future and when the economy rebounds. That’s not new, but there are some new reasons for the trend. The Brookings Institution released its latest study of job trends in the United States. Here are the highlights:
All but three of the 98 major metro areas studied showed a drop in the share of jobs located within 3 miles of downtown areas. And that was true even when the overall number of jobs in those areas increased slightly during from 1998 to 2006. Detroit, Chicago and Dallas had the most job-location shifting away from the city center.
The trend likely will continue, for at least two reasons:
- With the threat of new union legislation looming, employers realize that suburban dwellers generally are less union-friendly than city-dwellers. So there are fewer welcome mats for labor organizers in ‘burbs. That means lower labor costs, too.
- Real estate is often cheaper outside the city core. So workers want to live in the suburbs and employers want to locate there to take advantage of lower per-square-foot costs.