Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
The idea that dying towns will be saved by more workplace flexibility for high-wage workers is one of the oddest pandemic predictions.
The pandemic will most harm the places where workers least want to be, which is dying towns. In the long run, this makes places like Santa Barbara even more desirable and places like Flint even less desirable.
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Argument for the extremes is nonsense. Flint is one of the most dire examples and SB has been a wealthy desirable city for decades.
The growth data from 2021 and 2020 show states with low or stagnant growth near large metros like Connecticut, Delaware having new growth from people leaving larger east coast cities. Even places like Montana and Wyoming saw increases during the pandemic as people chose to just move to their rural hideaways with their new mobility.
But in other ways the pandemic which has increased supply chain issues and the already growing unpopularity with global economics is causing massive re-shoring of manufacturing in Mexico and the USA in more modern and efficient factories that employ less people than in 1970 but can produce goods competitively.
Long term the pandemic, the reaction to it, and its follow on effects I believe will be a good thing for North America