To Move Or Not To Move – Why You Don’t Need To Move House In Order To Find Good Employment

The coalition government has said that it hopes to encourage the unemployed to move to parts of the UK where work is in greater supply. The purpose of this is to ease the mis-match between high unemployment in certain areas, and labour shortages in more prosperous parts. But besides the fact that nowhere in the country is there zero unemployment, there are significant questions to be asked about whether relocation benefits anyone. Moreover, with the growth of Internet business, and opportunities to work from home in online jobs, why does anyone have to put up with the ordeal of relocating simply to secure a job?

Relocation may be more viable for certain people than for others. Maybe those in their twenties, without children and are not property owners, can move without hassle anywhere in the country or overseas to look for a job. Unfortunately in this country, there is a culture that believes people should buy a house and settle down. Once somebody has purchased a home, it becomes a lot harder to uproot and move elsewhere. There is the problem of putting the house up for sale, and the problem of chains, which means that sales can fall through at any point in the process for numerous reasons. Added to that is the headache of purchasing a property in the new area. Furthermore, for people moving from areas of high unemployment to somewhere more prosperous, they may meet the problem that property prices are higher, leaving them struggling to take out a much higher mortgage.

In addition there are the personal implications of relocation; saying goodbye to your friends and needing to build up a fresh social network in a new town or city. Moreover for families with children, the problems will affect them, too. Their schooling will be disrupted, and they will be required to leave their friends and find new ones in an unfamiliar place. There is the headache of looking for a school in the new city that is suitable. The schools may not offer the same range of courses that your kids were taking previously.

There are also employers who ask for people to move to different locations. I recall a person who was a bank manager, who was expected to relocate to to an isolated small town in Wales. His wife did not like the idea, and he declined the opportunity. As a result, he never rose above his existing grade.

So for those who cannot get a job in their own locality, what is the alternative to moving somewhere else? Internet business means that it is, to a large extent, irrelevant what part of the country you are in. For instance, is it important to know what city or county I was in when I was writing this article, or where anyone else is when they read it? I can work from home, doing whatever that pays me a wage, so in effect a new kind of online jobs has developed, allowing businesses to meet their clientele by means of the WWW.

So, maybe the answer to the problem of unemployment is not for the jobless to ‘get on their bike’ as the old quote goes, but to get onto the Internet, and search for the online jobs that will enable them to work from home. Some may necessitate a modest amount invested, in capital or training. But always bear in mind, how much does it cost when you’re relocating – in searching for a home, surveyors and solicitors fees, and so on? They are hardly likely to be less, and the stress involved is something that cannot be quantified.

For many who genuinely desire to relocate to another part of Britain for motives of their own, obviously they will still need to do so. But given the opportunities available in Internet business, it is quite unnecessary to do so simply to look for work.