A modestly growing number of Americans are moving out of state to get a job, a development that could cut unemployment and better match workers with positions, staffing officials and reports say.

Since the recession

began four years ago, many Americans, including the unemployed, have been unable to move because they can’t sell homes that have fallen in value and are worth less than their mortgages. And employers have been reluctant to pay relocation costs in an era of tighter corporate budgets.

 

A lack of mobility helps keep unemployment

high, since laid-off factory workers in Indiana, for example, can’t seek open jobs in North Dakota oil fields. In a Manpower survey last year, 26 percent of U.S. workers said the recession made them more willing to move, compared with 19 percent who were less willing. Obstacles to mobility still exist, but they’re slightly less daunting, officials say. Full Story