Episode
Nobody's Pulling Up Stakes Anymore
- Podcast
- Optimist Economy
- Published
- Apr 7, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2749
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
Americans used to move a lot in search of opportunity. But in 2024, the share of Americans who moved at all hit a 76-year low. Barely 2% of us moved across state lines. Some of that is by choice: people are more rooted, and that's not nothing. But when workers stop moving, rich cities pull further away from poor ones, wages stagnate, and the gaps between thriving labor markets and struggling ones get harder to close. And when there’s a shock to a local labor market, moving is an important release valve. Fixing a fraction of this worker mobility breakdown could improve the labor market for everyone. Chapters : 00:00:33 Opening 00:01:45 Retcon: Trump Accounts & Career Pivots 00:07:27 Terms & Conditions: Spatial Equilibrium 00:09:55 Big Pilcrow: Does it Matter to the U.S. Economy if We Don’t Move from Place to Place? 00:39:10 Executive Orders: Frances Perkins miniseries; Sleep Shaming; Election Day Weekend 00:43:07 Spiritual Sponsors: The National Consumers League motto ("Investigate, Agitate, Legislate"); ACFC’s winning start READ MORE: The increasingly mobile US is a myth that needs to move on | Aeon Essays Who Moves? Who Stays Put? Where’s Home? | Pew Research Center Job Changing and the Decline in Long-Distance Migration in the United States | Demography | Duke University Press The Economics of Internal Migration: Advances and Policy Questions Population & Migration | Economic Research Service Stranded! How Rising Inequality Suppressed US Migration and Hurt Those Left Behind Invest in Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Faces visible on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Where’s the party? On our Substack chat. Represent your optimist side: https://merch.amb…