Catherwood LibraryILR School

The rapid decline in housing prices is distorting the normal workings of the American labor market. Mobility opens up job opportunities, allowing workers to go where they are most needed. When housing is not an obstacle, more than five million Americans, nearly 4 percent of the U.S. work force, move annually from one place to another - to new jobs after layoff, or to higher-paying work, or to the next career rung - often the goal of a corporate transfer. Now this mobility is increasingly restricted. Unable to sell their homes easily and move on, tens of thousands of people are making the labor force less flexible just as a weakening economy puts pressure on workers to move to wherever companies are still hiring.