Telecommuting Could Speed Economic Recovery

I often refer to telecommuting as the solution to the problem de jure—the environment, swine flu, labor shortages, etc—Business Week recently offered yet another example. They reported that, based on interviews with a number of esteemed economists, the lack of worker mobility was significantly stifling our economic recovery. Further, they suggested that telecommuting may offer a solution to the problem.

Here’s the problem. At the national level, a whopping 23% of all mortgagees owe more than their house is worth. In Nevada, according to First American CoreLogic, 65% of property owners are upside-down with their mortgage. According to the experts Business Week interviewed, the combination of a depressed housing market, the aging population, and other factors, has produced a situation where relocations are at a record low. People just aren’t moving, because they can’t afford to.

So what does that have to do with unemployment? It turns out, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, that mobility is fundamental to economic recovery. If people aren’t willing or able to relocate in order to find work, high rates of unemployment will continue.
That’s where telecommuting comes in! Bringing the work to the worker, rather than the other way around would allow people to find gainful employment without having to move. It would also save companies a bundle in relocation packages. Yet another feather in telecommuting’s already well-adorned cap!