Employers Willing to Pay for Relocation

As 2012 ushers in an improving, but still highly competitive job market, more workers may be looking beyond their own backyard for employment options. Forty-four percent of workers said they would be willing to relocate for a career opportunity, according to a new nationwide study. Of workers who were laid off in the last year and found new jobs, 20 percent relocated to a new city or state.

At the same time, employers struggling to find workers for skilled positions said they are willing to pay to bring talent to their locations. Thirty-two percent reported they would be willing to pay to relocate new employees in 2012. Nineteen percent would be willing to pay a smaller first year salary in order to giving a signing bonus to relocate an employee. The national survey was conducted from November 9 to December 5, 2011 among more than 3,000 employers and more than 7,000 workers.

“One of the key trends we saw coming out of the recession is the movement of labor in and out of markets across the U.S.,” said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder. “Workers have had to expand their job search geographically and employers in need of hard-to-find, skilled talent have had to recruit across state lines. Our new site CareerRelocate.com helps workers identify relocation opportunities and understand related costs, so they have the right information in hand for their next career move.”

While employers will move current staff and new hires for a wide variety of positions, the top areas for which they are most likely to pay to relocate employees are tied to technology and revenue-generation:

· Engineering – 30 percent of employers
· Information Technology – 23 percent
· Business Development – 21 percent
· Sales – 21 percent
· Financial – 16 percent
· Marketing – 13 percent
· Legal – 11 percent

The vast majority of workers who relocated in the last year – 77 percent – reported they were happy with the move and didn’t regret the decision. Workers reported benefitting in the following ways:

· Made a fresh start – 30 percent
· Made new friends – 31 percent
· Had new experiences we wouldn’t have had anywhere else – 29 percent
· Earning at a higher level gave the family more spending options – 27 percent
· Better long-term career opportunities – 22 percent
· Area is nicer and schools are better – 19 percent

Of those workers who relocated in the last year, 41 percent said their family didn’t relocate with them and they have to travel to see them. Top challenges associated with relocating included:

· Cost of living is higher – 26 percent
· More stress on the family unit – 24 percent
· Difficult to make new friends – 18 percent
· Feeling homesick – 16 percent

Source: CareerBuilder nationwide study of 686 workers who were laid off from full-time jobs completed in September 2011.