“All the high-paying jobs are in the major cities. This is where you need to be in order to excel in your chosen field.” – My friend, Dave.
Well, generally speaking, yes, that’s true. The greatest concentration of career-based jobs is in the city – and therein lies the problem. Our system is set up so that the very lucrative, high-paying occupations are in the core, and the workers live in the suburbs, within commuting distance, of course. Essentially, that’s what makes the rat-race what it is.
These jobs will always be in high demand because they pay well. Workers commuting for hours per day, do so because they want more money and are willing to sacrifice hours on the road to get it. Before they know it, they are trapped in a world of ever increasing road congestion and commute times and a job that has become an absolute necessity to fund the affluent suburban lifestyle.
You would think that in this day and age of grid-lock traffic, smog, gas prices, and employee stress, our government would implement a plan to reward companies that made an effort to de-centralize these urban center jobs. After all, in the information age, companies really don’t need to be smack in the middle of major cities.
Think of the resources we would save by having these corporations de-centralize across the country? It sounds like a win-win situation for everyone. There would be less commuting and therefore less gas consumption, less pollution, and less stress on the poor individuals trying to get to their desks on time.
I’m sure there are reasonable arguments for why this can’t happen (of course). Perhaps the corporation demands a prestigious address. Maybe there would be supply and distribution problems if a company was based in the more rural areas of the country. I don’t know. I’m not an expert, but it seems to me that a lot of what makes the rat-race the hell-on-earth that it is, could be fixed with some innovative thinking and sacrifice. However, I’m sure that it all comes down to money.
In my opinion, there is an underlying consideration that most corporations miss. They fail to take into account employee stress and the resulting loss in productivity. If that were somehow measurable, perhaps there would be a solid case for de-centralization.
Yeah, I know, I’m out of the rat-race now, but this does have a point. I’ll explain in my next post.