March 14, 2022

The pandemic is likely shifting the tech jobs landscape away from traditional tech hubs in the US to midsize, more affordable cities dubbed “Zoom towns,” according to a story by MSN that cites a report from the Brookings Institute. Large city tech hubs such as San Francisco; Seattle; and Austin, Texas made up nearly half the US’ tech job growth between 2015 and 2019. However, the major tech centers saw their growth slow during the first year of the pandemic. Meanwhile midsize cities such as Cincinnati and Minneapolis have experienced significant growth. These midsize towns were referred to as “Zoom towns” in the Brookings report, though the report noted it’s unclear if the trend will continue.

The post Report cites pattern of tech employees transferring from conventional hubs to ‘Zoom cities’ (MSN) appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

CHICAGO — For Marcus Medsker, the pace of life in Quincy, Illinois, is slow. And he likes it that way.

Medsker, a senior client sales manager at Echo Global Logistics, was living in a two-bedroom condo in the River North neighborhood of Chicago just over a year ago. But when his wife became pregnant with their second child, they decided to move to his hometown.

The 37-year-old grew up in Quincy and said his return in December 2020 was somewhat unexpected. But the low cost of living and small-town feel has made life with young kids a lot simpler, and he said his proximity to family has been one of the most special parts of being back.

Before the pandemic, moving to a different city wasn’t really an option for Medsker, who is now the father of three.

“Me working remotely was never really on the table, so until that became fully available, that’s when we kind of decided to look at Quincy,” he said.

Medsker is one of the millions of Americans who has been working from home during the pandemic. As the average number of COVID-19 cases continues to decline across the United States, many employers are cautiously optimistic about returning to the office. But for some, the remote workplace changes are permanent.

According to a January Pew Research Center survey, about 59% of US workers who say their jobs can mainly be done remotely are working from home all or most of the time. Since 2020, the share who say they have relocated away from the area where they work has increased from 9% to 17%.

Many small towns in the Midwest, including Quincy, are trying to attract remote workers by using their sense of community to their advantage. The city advertises on a website called MakeMyMove, where people can browse through a range of incentive packages offered in cities and towns across the United States. If they decide they want to move, they can submit an application to the destination of their choice.

Evan Hock, co-founder and head of product at MakeMyMove, which was launched in December 2020, said he thinks remote work has given people the freedom to tailor their lifestyles to their personal preferences, not the locations of their employers. As a result, he said many remote workers are choosing to relocate to small towns because of affordability and opportunities to connect with the local community.

“It just so happens that a lot of these smaller towns and rural towns offer a lot of what folks that are leaving big cities are looking for,” Hock said.

In fact, Nicholas Epley, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said the sense of community people find in small towns can sometimes replace some of the social connections that are lost in remote working environments.

Epley said social connection happens more when actual, in-person conversations take place. Though most people understand the value of connections with close family and friends, he said they often underestimate the importance of weaker, more distant connections.

“The acquaintances, the more distant colleagues, even conversations with strangers are also important for our well-being,” he said. “What you’re going to lose when you’re not going into the office routinely is a broader social network that comes from connecting formally and informally with the colleagues that you work with.”

Even though these more distant connections can be lost by working remotely, Epley said it is certainly possible to find them elsewhere, like within a small town. Ultimately, he said where people find meaningful connections depends a lot on the individual and what they do for a living.

‘Just a nice little town’

Quincy resident Ricci Dula has had no shortage of social connection since moving to the area with his family from Redlands, California, in 2019.

As he sipped his iced black salt caramel mocha — the same drink he orders each time he visits Electric Fountain Brewing — he said hello to the only other two patrons in the coffee shop, both of whom knew Dula by name. The father of two said he has grown accustomed to seeing familiar faces in grocery stores and restaurants, which rarely happened when he lived in California.

Quincy, home to about 40,000 residents, has four National Register of Historic Places districts packed with more than 3,500 impressive, architecturally distinct buildings. Ornate stone and brick homes tower over the city’s residential streets, and quaint storefronts are clustered merely blocks away from the banks of the Mississippi River.

Dula joked that his days of road rage are long behind him, as it takes less than 15 minutes to get from one side of the city to the other.

“The sense of community is greater in a smaller town,” said Dula, who moved to Quincy for his career, where he served as the scout executive for the Mississippi Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America. “From a safety standpoint, from the activities for youth, for growing a family or establishing yourself as an employee, I would say that Quincy’s worth it.”

Residents of other small towns also feel proud of where they live; some have even come up with their own creative incentives to attract new families.

In Greensburg, Indiana, the relocation package includes $5,000, gift cards to the seasonal farmers market, and, among other things, a “Grandparents on Demand” service, in which longtime resident Tami Wenning and her husband offer free baby-sitting for those who move to the area.

Located in Decatur County, halfway between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, Greensburg is home to 13,000 residents.

Wenning has lived in Decatur County her whole life, and she said she came up with Grandparents on Demand when she was asked to help brainstorm ideas for MakeMyMove. She wanted to showcase how welcoming the community is, and since she has kids and grandkids of her own, she said she knows there are times when parents need to trust someone to watch their children.

As a result, whether new families are in need of a date night or someone to fill in for Grandparents’ Day at school, Wenning said she and her husband are happy to volunteer.

“It’s second nature around here; you want to step in and help somebody out with their kids,” she said. “It’s the coolest thing on Earth being a grandparent.”

Remote workers Kasey and Doug Waltz moved to Greensburg from Mason, Ohio, in November, and they said they have already come to appreciate the safety, community and convenience of a small town. As the parents of two children under the age of 2, they said the incentives really resonated with their needs.

“The area’s phenomenal; anything that we ever want is right around us,” Doug Waltz said. “It’s just a nice little town.”

‘What they value in life’

In Quincy, “Help Wanted” signs hang in the windows of many businesses along the city’s main streets. Mayor Mike Troup said there are more than 700 full-time positions open even though unemployment in the area is below 3%.

To address Quincy’s aging and stagnant population, the Great River Economic Development Foundation, the city and county’s lead economic development organization, launched a campaign called “Quincy’s Calling” in September .

Quincy’s Calling works in tandem with another city initiative that provides a financial incentive for individuals and families to move. Participants may apply for a $5,000 rebate on property taxes or a $3,500 rebate on rent or lease payments if they take a job in Adams County and reside within Quincy’s city limits for a designated period of time.

In the past five months, more than 55 families have moved to Quincy through the Quincy’s Calling campaign — including a number of remote workers.

Kyle Moore, the foundation president, said he thinks the accessibility of remote work has influenced the success of the campaign.

“I definitely think that the pandemic has caused people to pause and look at what they value in life and the quality of life they want to lead,” Moore said.

For barbershop owners Elizabeth and Matthew Thomas, the cost of their 10,000-square-foot Victorian stone mansion was too good to pass up. The couple moved from the San Francisco Bay Area a year and a half ago and opened Gold Line Barbershop just a week arriving after.

Matthew Thomas is particularly interested in Quincy’s history. The walls of the barbershop are covered with newspaper clippings that detail the city’s criminal past during the Prohibition era; a story Thomas said he finds “fascinating.” He is passionate about protecting the old homes in the area, so he said he thinks the city’s effort to attract new residents is a great idea.

“A lot of these giant, beautiful architecturally significant Victorian mansions on the north end and the south side of town were kind of left behind, and they’re just waiting to be saved,” he said. “Every time I drive around down there, it’s like, I want to buy more.”

Moore, the foundation president, said the early success of the Quincy’s Calling campaign has been encouraging, and he hopes the positive momentum will continue to grow.

“I think if you would have asked us when it started, that we would have had, you know, 25 folks in a year, we would have been happy,” he said. “We hope every year that we can snowball this.”

Despite the ever-evolving nature of the pandemic, remote work is here to stay. According to data scientists at Ladders, a jobs site for positions that pay more than $100,000, 25% of all the jobs in North America will be fully remote by the end of the year.

The doors to the office are still shuttered for Quincy resident Medsker, and even if they reopen, he said he will only have to make the trip to Chicago occasionally.

Medsker said having his kids changed everything, and relocating to a small town gave him the simple life he could not find in Chicago.

“We never really considered Quincy as an option, and then, you know, as we dug more into it, things became more clear,” he said. “We wouldn’t take the decision back for anything.”

———

©2022 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The post Extra distant staff are shifting to small cities as pandemic reshapes the office | AP appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

For Marcus Medsker, the pace of life in Quincy is slow. And he likes it that way.

Medsker, a senior client sales manager at Echo Global Logistics, was living in a two-bedroom condo in the River North neighborhood of Chicago just over a year ago. But when his wife became pregnant with their second child, they decided to move to his hometown.

The 37-year-old grew up in Quincy and said his return in December 2020 was somewhat unexpected. But the low cost of living and small-town feel has made life with young kids a lot simpler, and he said his proximity to family has been one of the most special parts of being back.

Before the pandemic, moving to a different city wasn’t really an option for Medsker, who is now the father of three.

“Me working remotely was never really on the table, so until that became fully available, that’s when we kind of decided to look at Quincy,” he said.

Medsker is one of the millions of Americans who has been working from home during the pandemic. As the average number of COVID-19 cases continues to decline across the United States, many employers are cautiously optimistic about returning to the office. But for some, the remote workplace changes are permanent.

According to a January Pew Research Center survey, about 59% of US workers who say their jobs can mainly be done remotely are working from home all or most of the time. Since 2020, the share who say they have relocated away from the area where they work has increased from 9% to 17%.

Many small towns in the Midwest, including Quincy, are trying to attract remote workers by using their sense of community to their advantage. The city is listed on a website called MakeMyMove, where people can browse through a range of incentive packages offered in cities and towns across the United States. If they decide they want to move, they can submit an application to the destination of their choice.

Evan Hock, co-founder and head of product at MakeMyMove, which was launched in December 2020, said he thinks remote work has given people the freedom to tailor their lifestyles to their personal preferences, not the locations of their employers. As a result, he said many remote workers are choosing to relocate to small towns because of affordability and opportunities to connect with the local community.

“It just so happens that a lot of these smaller towns and rural towns offer a lot of what folks that are leaving big cities are looking for,” Hock said.

In fact, Nicholas Epley, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said the sense of community people find in small towns can sometimes replace some of the social connections that are lost in remote working environments.

Epley said social connection happens more when actual, in-person conversations take place. Though most people understand the value of connections with close family and friends, he said they often underestimate the importance of weaker, more distant connections.

“The acquaintances, the more distant colleagues, even conversations with strangers are also important for our well-being,” he said. “What you’re going to lose when you’re not going into the office routinely is a broader social network that comes from connecting formally and informally with the colleagues that you work with.”

Even though these more distant connections can be lost by working remotely, Epley said it is certainly possible to find them elsewhere, like within a small town. Ultimately, he said where people find meaningful connections depends a lot on the individual and what they do for a living.

Quincy resident Ricci Dula has had no shortage of social connection since moving to the area with his family from Redlands, California, in 2019.

As he sipped his iced black salt caramel mocha — the same drink he orders each time he visits Electric Fountain Brewing — he said hello to the only other two patrons in the coffee shop, both of whom knew Dula by name. The father of two said he has grown accustomed to seeing familiar faces in grocery stores and restaurants, which rarely happened when he lived in California.

Quincy, home to about 40,000 residents, has four National Register of Historic Places packed with more than 3,500 impressive, architecturally distinct buildings. Ornate stone and brick homes tower over the city’s residential streets, and quaint storefronts are clustered merely blocks away from the banks of the Mississippi River.

Dula joked that his days of road rage are long behind him, as it takes less than 15 minutes to get from one side of the city to the other.

“The sense of community is greater in a smaller town,” said Dula, who moved to Quincy for his career, where he served as the scout executive for the Mississippi Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America. “From a safety standpoint, from the activities for youth, for growing a family or establishing yourself as an employee, I would say that Quincy’s worth it.”

Residents of other small towns also feel proud of where they live; some have even come up with their own creative incentives to attract new families.

In Greensburg, Indiana, the relocation package includes $5,000, gift cards to the seasonal farmers market, and, among other things, a “Grandparents on Demand” service, in which longtime resident Tami Wenning and her husband offer free babysitting for those who move to the iarea.

Located in Decatur County, halfway between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, Greensburg is home to 13,000 residents.

Wenning has lived in Decatur County her whole life, and she said she came up with Grandparents on Demand when she was asked to help brainstorm ideas for MakeMyMove. She wanted to showcase how welcoming the community is, and since she has kids and grandkids of her own, she said she knows there are times when parents need to trust someone to watch their children.

As a result, whether new families are in need of a date night or someone to fill in for Grandparents’ Day at school, Wenning said she and her husband are happy to volunteer.

“It’s second nature around here; you want to step in and help somebody out with their kids,” she said. “It’s the coolest thing on Earth being a grandparent.”

Remote workers Kasey and Doug Waltz moved to Greensburg from Mason, Ohio, in November, and they said they have already come to appreciate the safety, community and convenience of a small town. As the parents of two children under the age of 2, they said the incentives really resonated with their needs.

“The area’s phenomenal, anything that we ever want is right around us,” Doug Waltz said. “It’s just a nice little town.”

In Quincy, “Help Wanted” signs hang in the windows of many businesses along the city’s main streets. Mayor Mike Troup said there are more than 700 full-time positions open even though unemployment in the area is below 3%.

To address Quincy’s aging and stagnant population, the Great River Economic Development Foundation, the city and county’s lead economic development organization, launched a campaign called “Quincy’s Calling” in September .

Quincy’s Calling works in tandem with another city initiative that provides a financial incentive for individuals and families to move. Participants may apply for a $5,000 rebate on property taxes or a $3,500 rebate on rent or lease payments if they take a job in Adams County and reside within Quincy’s city limits for a designated period of time.

In the past five months, more than 55 families have moved to Quincy through the Quincy’s Calling campaign — including a number of remote workers.

Kyle Moore, the foundation president, said he thinks the accessibility of remote work has influenced the success of the campaign.

“I definitely think that the pandemic has caused people to pause and look at what they value in life and the quality of life they want to lead,” Moore said.

For barbershop owners Elizabeth and Matthew Thomas, the cost of their 10,000-square-foot Victorian stone mansion was too good to pass up. The couple moved from the San Francisco Bay Area a year and a half ago and opened Gold Line Barbershop just a week arriving after.

Matthew Thomas is particularly interested in Quincy’s history. The walls of the barbershop are covered with newspaper clippings that detail the city’s criminal past during the Prohibition era; a story Thomas said he finds “fascinating.” He is passionate about protecting the old homes in the area, so he said he thinks the city’s effort to attract new residents is a great idea.

“A lot of these giant, beautiful architecturally significant Victorian mansions on the north end and the south side of town were kind of left behind, and they’re just waiting to be saved,” he said. “Every time I drive around down there, it’s like, I want to buy more.”

Moore, the foundation president, said the early success of the Quincy’s Calling campaign has been encouraging, and he hopes the positive momentum will continue to grow.

“I think if you would have asked us when it started, that we would have had, you know, 25 folks in a year, we would have been happy,” he said. “We hope every year that we can snowball this.”

Despite the ever-evolving nature of the pandemic, remote work is here to stay. According to data scientists at Ladders, a jobs site for positions that pay more than $100,000, 25% of all the jobs in North America will be fully remote by the end of the year.

The doors to the office are still shuttered for Quincy resident Medsker, and even if they reopen, he said he will only have to make the trip to Chicago occasionally.

Medsker said having his kids changed everything, and relocating to a small town gave him the simple life he could not find in Chicago.

“We never really considered Quincy as an option, and then, you know, as we dug more into it, things became more clear,” he said. “We wouldn’t take the decision back for anything.”

The post Extra distant staff are transferring to small cities appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Berrien County, Michigan, ist nicht der Ort, von dem man erwarten würde, dass er Einwohner verliert. An der Küste des Michigansees gelegen, sind die „Hamptons des Mittleren Westens“ weithin bekannt für ihre Sandstrände und Weinberge, die viele Touristen aus dem nahe gelegenen Chicago und Indianapolis anziehen. Aber der Landkreis hat diese Touristen noch nicht zum Bleiben überredet, und seine Bevölkerung ist seit den 1970er Jahren rückläufig. Letztes Jahr wurde Rob Cleveland, der Leiter einer regionalen Organisation für wirtschaftliche Entwicklung, kreativ. Wenn Sie ein Telearbeiter aus einem anderen Bundesstaat sind, der ein Haus kaufen und sich in Berrien niederlassen möchte, können Sie sich bei Clevelands Gruppe, der Cornerstone Alliance, bewerben und erhalten 10.000 bis 15.000 US-Dollar.

Seit dem Start des Programms im September haben sich mehr als 2.500 Menschen aus dem ganzen Land gemeldet, um ihr Interesse an den Anreizen zu bekunden, sagte mir Cleveland. Er verband mich mit einer von ihnen, Jill Urbanski, einer langjährigen Einwohnerin von Chicago, die im Oktober im Radio von dem Angebot hörte. Ende Februar war sie nach St. Joseph, Michigan, gezogen und hatte ihre 10.000 Dollar gesammelt. „Es machte absolut Sinn“, sagte mir Urbanski. “Alles ist für mich aufgereiht.”

Es gibt nur ein Problem. In den 10 Monaten seit dem Start des Programms ist Urbanski die einzige Person, die das Angebot der Cornerstone Alliance angenommen hat. Cleveland sagte, dass zwei weitere Familien bald in die Grafschaft ziehen werden, aber er ist noch lange nicht in der Nähe seines ursprünglichen Ziels, bis Ende dieses Jahres 25 Anreize zu verteilen. Jetzt hofft er, dass er fünf schlägt.

Umzugs-Incentives wie in Berrien liegen derzeit voll im Trend. Laut der Website MakeMyMove geben mehr als 40 Orte in den Vereinigten Staaten Menschen Geld für den Umzug. Die Shoals, Alabama, zahlen Ihnen 10.000 US-Dollar. Im Nordwesten von Arkansas erhalten Sie außerdem 10.000 US-Dollar – plus ein kostenloses Fahrrad. Topeka, Kansas, bietet Jimmy Johns Sandwiches im Wert von bis zu 15.000 US-Dollar und 1.000 US-Dollar an. Morgantown, West Virginia, hat eine Welle der Medienaufmerksamkeit erhalten, indem es das vielleicht großzügigste Angebot gemacht hat: eine Kombination aus Geldzuschüssen, kostenlosem Verleih von Outdoor-Ausrüstung, kostenlosen Skitickets und anderen Vergünstigungen im Gesamtwert von 20.000 USD.

Diese Initiativen variieren je nach Größe der Stadt und wie sie finanziert werden (einige, darunter Berriens, werden vollständig mit privaten Dollars finanziert), aber die Idee dahinter ist die gleiche: Durch baumelnde Belohnungen hoffen schwächelnde Gemeinden, neue anzuziehen Einwohner – insbesondere Telearbeiter – aus wohlhabenderen Teilen des Landes. Diese Programme stammen aus der Zeit vor der Pandemie, aber sie haben an Popularität gewonnen, da ein Teil der Unternehmen die Remote-Arbeit dauerhaft einsetzt. „Vielleicht treffen die Leute die Entscheidung, sich von den beengten Büros in Downtown Manhattan zu entfernen“, sagte mir Craig Armstrong, der Architekt des Incentive-Programms in Newton, Iowa. “Wir sind wahrscheinlich gut aufgestellt, um die Vorteile zu nutzen.” Sogar das Wall Street Journal hat bewegende Initiativen gefeiert und gesagt, dass sie neue Wege für “die heutigen Legionen von Remote-Arbeitern, die es jucken, von ihren hochpreisigen, dicht besiedelten Grenzen in Städten wie San Francisco und New York zu springen”, eröffnen.

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Aber die Art und Weise, wie diese Programme ablaufen, entspricht nicht ihrem ursprünglichen Versprechen. Anstelle von etwas, das den Wohnort der Amerikaner grundlegend neu ausrichten kann, sehen fast alle diese Initiativen aus wie in Berrien: Sie bringen einige neue Einwohner an, aber nicht genug, um die Bevölkerungsprobleme der Städte nennenswert zu verändern. Bei all dem Hype um Remote Work tut es für viele schrumpfende Städte eindeutig wenig bis gar nichts.

Umzugsanreize gibt es schon seit einiger Zeit, aber 2018 gingen sie zur Hauptsendezeit. In diesem Jahr begann eine Stiftung in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 10.000 US-Dollar für Remote-Mitarbeiter anzubieten, die in die Stadt gezogen sind. Die Idee – Geld verdienen mit Umzug! – wurde schnell zu einer Mediensensation, die Tulsa genau die Aufmerksamkeit bescherte, die sie suchte. In den letzten drei Jahren haben sich rund 47.000 Menschen für das Programm namens Tulsa Remote beworben. Zwischen den aufgenommenen und den mitgezogenen Familien sind mehr als 1.000 Menschen aus dem ganzen Land in die Stadt gezogen. Der Erfolg von Tulsa ist einer der Hauptgründe, warum so viele andere Gemeinden ihre eigenen Anreize geschaffen haben.

Aber im Gegensatz zu fast allen anderen Orten, die diese Programme anbieten, ist Tulsa eine Großstadt mit Hunderttausenden von Einwohnern. (Die einzige größere Stadt mit Anreizen ist Baltimore, die nur 20 Stipendien pro Jahr vergibt.) Angesichts der Größe der Stadt machten die neuen Einwohner nur einen unbedeutenden Bevölkerungszuwachs von 0,25 Prozent aus. Und weil Tulsa den Trend ankurbelte, hatte es einen Vorsprung bei der Gewinnung neuer Bewohner. „Ich denke, Tulsa hatte einen großen Vorteil, weil es der First Mover war und sich einen Namen gemacht hat“, sagt Richard Florida, Professor für Wirtschaftspolitik und -analyse an der University of Toronto.

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Um herauszufinden, ob andere Programme den kleinen Erfolg von Tulsa Remote wiederholt haben, habe ich 10 von ihnen kontaktiert und mich auf diejenigen mit den großzügigsten Anreizen konzentriert. Ich habe von acht von ihnen gehört und Vertreter von ihnen interviewt. Alle waren gespannt, was ihre Stadt geleistet hatte. Aber keine Stadt kam auch nur annähernd an Tulsas Rekord heran.

Denken Sie an Topeka: Die Wirtschaftsförderungsagentur der Region hat im Dezember 2019 ein Anreizprogramm gestartet. Seitdem hat sie etwas mehr als 65 neue Einwohner zu einer Stadt mit mehr als 125.000 Einwohnern hinzugewonnen. Die Shoals, die Heimat von mehr als 70.000 Menschen, haben seit Juni 2019 nur 25 neue Bewohner durch ihre Initiative angesiedelt. Cleveland aus Berrien County ist stolz auf sein Programm und führt die Underperformance auf den verrückten Wohnungsmarkt zurück. Aber wenn die Cornerstone Alliance schließlich alle 25 budgetierten Plätze besetzt, werden die Gewinne im Grunde genommen nichts ausmachen. Der Landkreis hat 153.000 Einwohner. Selbst wenn die verbleibenden 24 Plätze an Familien mit vier Kindern gehen, würde die Bevölkerung um knapp 0,1 Prozent steigen.

„Ich bin ziemlich skeptisch [that these programs] die Einwohnerzahlen einer Stadt oder eines Bundesstaates spürbar werden“, sagte mir Brett Theodos, Senior Fellow am Urban Institute. Er verglich die Anreize mit einem teuren Marketingprogramm mit begrenztem Nutzen. “Es wird nur so viele Nachrichtenartikel über dieses Phänomen geben”, sagte er.

Das Problem ist nicht nur, dass die meisten dieser Anreize sporadisch mediale Aufmerksamkeit erhalten. Sogar Programme, die vor oder neben Tulsa gestartet wurden, hatten nur minimalen Erfolg. Armstrong schätzt, dass Newtons Initiative seit ihrem Start im Jahr 2014 zwischen 125 und 150 neue Menschen in die Stadt gebracht hat – ein Bevölkerungszuwachs von 1 Prozent, verteilt über mehr als sieben Jahre. Britt, Iowa, hat eines der effektivsten Programme, und die Ergebnisse sind noch recht bescheiden. Es hat seit Beginn des Angebots im Jahr 2018 acht Grundstücke an Familien verschenkt; nach Abschluss der Bauarbeiten und Ankunft der neuen Einwohner wird die Einwohnerzahl der Stadt um 1 bis 2 Prozent steigen.

Das bedeutet nicht, dass die Anreize keine Vorteile haben. Newtons Programm sei teilweise geschaffen worden, um widerstrebende Baufirmen zum Bauen in der Stadt zu bewegen, sagte Armstrong, und dies sei gelungen. Die Grundstücke, die Britt verschenkt hat, sollten sowohl die Bevölkerung der Stadt vergrößern als auch dazu beitragen, unbebautes Land loszuwerden. Britts Bürgermeister Ryan Arndorfer sagte mir, dass das Programm bei Letzterem sicherlich geholfen hat. Und jeder neue Einwohner bringt den schrumpfenden Städten einen gewissen Nutzen, insbesondere wenn es sich um hochverdienende Fachkräfte handelt – was überproportional bei Remote-Arbeitern der Fall ist. Solche Leute geben im Allgemeinen mehr in lokalen Geschäften aus und zahlen mehr Steuern. Außerdem sind sie dafür bekannt, Cluster zu bilden. Wenn sich genügend Angestellte an einem Ort versammeln, ziehen sie Gleichgesinnte an und wachsen die Bevölkerung organisch.

Aber Experten sagten mir, dass es unwahrscheinlich ist, dass die Programme eine kritische Masse von Angestellten an diese Orte verlagern werden. Ein Teil des Problems besteht darin, dass die Beamten hinter diesen Programmen zwar davon träumen, aus großen kosmopolitischen Städten wie Seattle und Austin, Texas, zu ziehen, die Anreize jedoch in Wirklichkeit nur Gemeinden mit ähnlicher Größe und ähnlichem Wohlstand stehlen. Von den acht Familien, die nach Britt zogen, kamen sechs aus anderen Teilen Iowas. Die beiden, die es nicht taten – einer aus New York und einer aus Kalifornien – hatten immer noch Verbindungen zum ländlichen Iowa.

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Diese Programme „sind ein Nullsummenwettbewerb“, sagt Cristobal Young, ein Wirtschaftssoziologe an der Cornell University, der untersucht, wie Staaten Steuern verwenden, um Einwohner anzuziehen. Wenn die Programme öffentlich finanziert werden, sagt er mir, ist es „schlechte Politik, nur Geld von sesshaften Einwohnern zu nehmen und es mobileren Menschen zu geben“. Selbst wenn sie privat finanziert werden, besteht die Gefahr, dass die Programme Druck auf die Peer-Gemeinschaften ausüben, ihre eigenen Anreize zu verteilen, was einen Wettlauf nach unten antreibt.

Die grundlegende Tragödie von Umzugsanreizen besteht darin, dass diese Gemeinschaften dringend mehr Menschen und mehr Arbeitsplätze brauchen. Im Jahr 2006 verlor Newton einen Fortune-500-Arbeitgeber namens Maytag, dessen Hauptsitz mehr als ein Jahrhundert lang zur Erhaltung der lokalen Wirtschaft beigetragen hatte. Als Maytag von Whirlpool übernommen wurde, verlor Newton weit über 1.000 Stellen. Jetzt hat Whirlpool seinen Hauptsitz in Berrien County. Die Geldgeschenke, sagte Cleveland von der Cornerstone Alliance, sind letztendlich zweitrangig gegenüber seinem Pitch. Whirlpool – und das damit verbundene Talent – ​​ist ein weitaus größeres Verkaufsargument. “Die Leute werden nicht für 15.000 Dollar umziehen”, sagte Cleveland. “Es muss Annehmlichkeiten und Möglichkeiten geben.”

Ich war überrascht von der Offenheit, aber er hat recht. Im Kampf um Remote-Arbeiter können Städte nicht einfach für den Sieg bezahlen. Wenn sie nicht die Arten von Restaurants und begehbaren Vierteln haben, nach denen Profis suchen, werden 15.000 US-Dollar einfach nicht ausreichen. Möglicherweise müssen sie sogar attraktive, persönliche Jobs anbieten: Neue Bewohner arbeiten bei ihrer Ankunft möglicherweise aus der Ferne, möchten oder müssen jedoch möglicherweise den Beruf wechseln.

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Die Sieger werden wahrscheinlich Orte wie Boise, Idaho sein; Salt Lake City, Utah; und Nashville, Tennessee – Städte, die vor der Pandemie größer und wohlhabender wurden. Mit anderen Worten, Städte, die bereits gewonnen haben. Anreize „könnten in einem Bozeman funktionieren“[, Montana]“, sagte mir Florida. „Du könntest das vielleicht in einer Traverse City machen[, Michigan]; a Hudson, New York – all die Orte, an denen, wenn man sich die Volkszählungsdaten ansieht, eine Migration stattgefunden hat. Aber es ist immer noch eine kleine Untergruppe von Orten.“

Dass Bewegungsanreize so laue Ergebnisse gezeitigt haben, verheißt nicht gerade etwas Gutes für die Vorstellung, dass Remote-Arbeit den Wohnort der Amerikaner grundlegend verändern wird. Sicher, einige Outdoor-Typen ziehen vielleicht in angesagte Bergstädte. Kostenbewusste Leute könnten in billigere, aber immer noch coole Städte im Landesinneren aufbrechen. Aber bei allem Gerede über die verschwommene Zukunft der Großstädte scheint die Remote-Arbeit nicht viel daran zu ändern, wie sich diese Orte vom Rest des Landes entfernt haben.

Diese harte Realität wird den Boom der beweglichen Anreize wahrscheinlich nicht stoppen. Aber Bargeld und Spielereien sind kein Ausweg aus dem Teufelskreis, in dem sich kämpfende Gemeinden befinden. Stadtprofis ziehen an Orte, um hochwertige Möglichkeiten und Annehmlichkeiten zu erhalten. Und die meisten kleinen Städte werden Schwierigkeiten haben, diese Dinge zu generieren, bis sie genügend Fachkräfte haben. Letztendlich sind die einzigen wirklichen Gewinner von Moving Incentives die buchstäblichen Gewinner: die Empfänger. Das Stipendium von 10.000 Dollar war großartig für Jill Urbanski. Aber war es eine gute Investition für Berrien County? Urbanski hatte bereits versucht, Chicago zu verlassen, und liebte die Grafschaft, weil er dort Urlaub machte. Ich fragte sie direkt, ob sie auch ohne all das Geld umgezogen wäre. Sie zögerte nicht: „Ja.“

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