As many as 15 percent of mid- to senior-level job seekers in Connecticut found posts in 2009 that required them to relocate outside the state, according to a Norwalk job analyst.
Right Management said its survey of 515 job candidates from the Hartford and Norwalk areas found Connecticut’s executive relocation ratio to be the highest among six Northeast job markets.
The firm said it analyzed data on nearly 3,000 individuals throughout the Northeast to whom it provided career transition services. Right Management is the talent and career management unit of Manpower Inc.
“Surprisingly, this trend has not changed much over recent years,” said Bill Brimmer, Connecticut market vice president for Right Management. “While job seekers were challenged with a tough employment market last year, it is reassuring that relocation choices actually turned out to be consistent with the data tracked prior to the recession.”
As a rule, job seekers would accept a job requiring a move only if the offer is generous or the opportunity compelling, Brimmer said.
“So relocation is no reflection on any single market, but an indication of a candidate’s fit for a new position. Moreover, relocation is a fact of life and a key part of the flexibility and complexity of today’s workforce and the choices that individuals make.”
Fourteen percent of New York City’s mid- to senior-level job seekers relocated, followed by New Jersey, 13 percent; Rhode Island, 11 percent; Massachusetts, 6 percent; and New York-Long Island, 4 percent.
“Across the Northeast about 12 percent of the job seekers we tracked relocated to a different market,” said Brimmer. “The national average in 2009 was 15 percent.”
