Glassdoor, one of the world’s largest job and recruiting sites, released a new economic research study Friday, May 18, revealing that 28.5 percent of Glassdoor applications on were to jobs outside of an applicant’s current metro area, a news release annoucned.
Among other things, the study, Metro Movers: Where Are Americans Moving for Jobs, And Is It Worth It?, identifies:
— Cities job applicants are most interested in moving to
— Cities with the biggest share of job seekers interested in leaving
— Factors that drive people to move for a new job
Glassdoor’s study is based on a sample of more than 668,000 online job applications started on Glassdoor from Jan. 8-14, 2018, for the 40 largest metro areas in the U.S.
The release explained that Glassdoor felt that with data on the job search process and nearly 40 million reviews and insights on workplace factors at more than 770,000 companies around the world, it had a unique opportunity to view near real-time job search patterns and the cities, jobs and companies enticing today’s job seekers to move.
“Picking up your life and moving for a job is a major decision. But in a job market where workers are in high demand and many employers are eager to hire, the employers who understand where talent is heading and what influences them to consider a move will have a recruiting advantage,” Glassdoor Chief Economist Andrew Chamberlain, who conducted the study, said in the release. “Our research shows that employers should think broader when it comes to their recruiting strategies, as the quality talent they want may not only be found in their local market, but across the country.”
While the study found that San Francisco and New York City are the reigning destinations among job seekers, Texas did make the top 10, coming in at No. 9 for Dallas-Fort Worth and No. 10 for Austin.
Top 10 Destinations for Metro Movers
(Among metro mover applications, the percent indicates percentage of applications to each top metro)
1. San Francisco, CA – 12.4%
2. New York City, NY – 8.4%
3. San Jose, CA – 6.9%
4. Los Angeles, CA – 6.8%
5. Washington, DC – 4.3%
6. Boston, MA – 3.7%
7. Chicago, IL – 3.2%
8. Seattle, WA – 3.1%
9. Dallas-Fort Worth – 2.8%
10. Austin – 2.3%
While being a place metro movers are looking to relocate is undoubtedly good for an areas economy, being one of the top places workers are looking to leave probably isn’t as exciting. Luckily for Texas, no metros in the Lone Star State made the list.
The study found that many people moving away from these cities are gravitating to nearby cities that are larger and more rapidly-growing.
Top 10 Cities With the Most Workers Moving Away
(The percentage of applications to other cities within each metro)
1. Providence, RI – 52.2%
2. San Jose, CA – 47.6%
3. Riverside, CA – 47.3%
4. Baltimore, MD – 45.6%
5. Sacramento, CA – 44.4%
6. Columbus, OH – 41.4%
7. Pittsburgh, PA – 39.3%
8. Charlotte, NC – 37.7%
9. Cincinnati, OH – 36.2%
10. Cleveland, OH – 35.3%
It’s a common saying that people don’t leave a job, they leave a boss/management and the same can be turned around for a company’s culture. Glassdoor found that company culture is a top factor driving people to move, even more so than salary.
The study determined that a company with a 1-star higher overall Glassdoor rating is six times more likely to attract a candidate than a company that’s offering $10,000 more in salary, but has a lower culture rating. While salary can help entice workers to move, it’s at a much smaller percentage.
According to the study, an extra $10,000 higher base salary predicts applicants are only half a percentage point more likely to move. Additionally, Glassdoor found that men and young workers are more likely to move.
Men are 3.3 percentage points more likely than women to move, the study found, while a job applicant is 7 percentage points less likely to move with each passing decade that they age.
“You might expect that more money would be a top factor for job seekers when considering whether to move for a job, but it’s not. Our research shows companies with good culture and employees who love what they do ultimately have a leg-up when it comes to attracting the best talent from across the country,” Chamberlain said in the release. “This means employers must ramp-up their recruiting efforts for groups least likely to move – such as women or more senior workers – and have excellent culture, strong pay or benefits offerings.”
The full study can be found on Glassdoor Economic Research and includes more information about metro movers, metro migration patterns of job seekers, companies attracting job seekers most, and jobs people are most likely to move for.