Small Town Americans Feeling Stuck

Struggling Americans Once Sought Greener Pastures—Now They’re Stuck

The country is the least mobile since after World War II, even in economically depressed rural locales

David Trammel's picture

Sophie, the link you posted is behind a paywall.

For everyone else, try this link at MSN

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/struggling-americans-once-sought...

I saw in the news recently that President Trump has said that Americans are going to have to start moving where jobs are. That's easy for him to say. At his level of wealth, moving isn't that big of a deal. For those of us without a bunch of money, it's a lot more difficult.

Moving is expensive. Plus, if you're moving to where the jobs are, the cost of living is going to be a lot higher. Then factor in that you don't have family there to help with childcare or if you lose your job or have an accident and can't work or ... you get the idea.

My husband recently had a potential job offer in a big city in another state. We would have had to buy a $300,000 or $400,000 house to live in a safe area. Our mortgage here is a LOT less than that. Here, if I need to take one of the kids to the doctor, I borrow a vehicle from my mom while she watches my other two kids. There, we would have needed to buy a second car. I could have drug all the kids to a doctor's appointment for one of them, but I'd have needed a babysitter for my appointments. There's just no help there with all the curves that life throws at you.

The biggest thing though would have been taking our children away from family. They're really attached to their grandparents and cousins. Families shouldn't be broken up unless it's absolutely necessary.