Helping people in depressed areas to take jobs elsewhere

Lack of labour mobility is often regarded as a major cause of unemployment. Improving mobility is difficult. It raises social, environmental, economic and cultural issues. Take the case of a person considering a job some distance away from home which involves moving house: there are many brakes on the person’s mobility, for example: (1) Housing costs are almost certain to be higher, as house prices and rents tend to correlate inversely with the rate of unemployment. In the case of unemployment caused by a mass of redundancies, house prices fall substantially in the area increasing further the differential. (The average price of a house in London is just twice the price of a house in Yorkshire and Humberside.) (2) In London and adjoining areas rented accommodation is scarce, often attributed to rent control which is said to reduce the number of private lettings. (3) The expense of moving for a family may be a deterrent, with legal charges and stamp duty for owner-occupiers. (4) Wage differentials are not sufficiently attractive in the low unemployment areas to make a move (for example, average wages in the South East are only 11/2 per cent higher than the wages in Mersey side).1 (5) Information on jobs and housing in distant places is hard to obtain and may require at least one visit purely to find out. (6) Unemployed people may have little money to search job possibilities, which is greatly facilitated by a car, a telephone and good suit (few unemployed have all of these). (7) There is a general reluctance (except for some young people) to move away from friends and relatives as it seems always more feasible to find a job in an area which you know (and in which you are known). (8) Moving is a high risk. If the new job fails, there will be a loss of money as well as a loss of a source of support from people at home. And the change from familiar surroundings may be damaging to the morale of the emigrant employee. (9) There may be pressure on able people in a deprived area not to move away. If they do so in large numbers, the deprivation becomes worse, destroying the hopes of any future development.