Monte Deere, CEO of Kizik Inc., clearly loves two things — shoes and Utah.
“It's an interesting place, and I think more and more people are moving here, vacationing here, learning about the best snow on earth,” Deere said, adding there is great snow in the north of the state and plenty of national parks in the south. “It's a pretty incredible place. We will be in Utah. We will increasingly brand ourselves as an Utah-based company.”
West Virginia saw a more sustained slide in population, shrinking 0.4% from 2020 to 2021 and dropping 3.8% over the last 10 years. And while people who are moving are generally moving to where the average income is lower than their own, they are being strategic and picking places that still allow them access to amenities and perks cities have to offer, she said.
“My opinion is that the pandemic spurred this on. It gave people a reason to make a move that maybe they have been thinking about for a long time. I don’t think they are doing things differently than they have done before but it put things on fast forward,” Wiggins said. While some of that population loss could be attributed to people feeling cities for the suburbs, it did not generally lead to equivalent rises in suburban growth in metro areas exceeding 1 million residents.
That includes emphasizing the cost of living and the commute. Smaller cities tend to be more affordable than larger ones, and smaller towns typically mean shorter commutes, saving the employee both time and money. Companies should also provide incentives or bonuses for employees who recruit new workers, he said.
“The idea that, if you did get this factory, people would come from all over to work at it — that simply isn’t true any more,” Mozena said. “The people who take these jobs who are already employed because the people getting hired are the in-demand workers.”