"...concerns about how long the next gig will last..."

This one explains a lot of trends/phenomena regarding work/employment these days. Workers crave full-time employment, but they are no longer willing to pre-pay loyalty or uproot their families "for the job". Employers can't/don't offer loyalty or promises anymore, and so employees have no choice but to 'return the favor', so to speak...

In today’s US economy most employers treat their employees like *hit. As consumers we bear the brunt of the crappy service and products that result from this.

So all the talk of migration out of states like California and New York turns out not to be true. An interviewer told me this week they were getting a lot of resumes from out of state for the job in Northern California but few locally. But refuse to bring me in for an interview as I was deemed too senior. I've been unemployed for 20 weeks now and there is no sign of light even in this economy. Jobs are out there but employers find a reason not to fill jobs. I believe in many cases the jobs actually aren't real openings as when I attempt to trace down people I know in the departments of the openings say there is no funding for new openings.

Yep. They reap what they sow. My last employer is regretting letting me go and debating bringing me back as a consultant. But my price went up after I found this out

Re: Skimpy relocation packages:

When I graduated college in the late '90s, my first gig paid for my relocation AND gave me not one, but two signing bonuses. They sent two guys and a moving truck and drove my furniture 2.5 hours to the new town. Once I was there, my first paycheck had a few extra thousand in it with no strings attached. Sure, the bonuses were taxed at the highest bracket, but I could leave the company immediately and still keep them. It was like being a banker! Unfortunately those days are gone forever for "lowly" IT people.

Nowadays I have much more experience and I hardly know anyone who gets fully (or even partially) paid relocation. Any transition assistance is geared toward H1Bs to help them set up. Still, I feel sorry for a lot of those guys since their managers often take advantage of their tenuous visa status to treat them like garbage. Ah, glorious corporate America.

From excuses I've been given and excuses I've heard around the office, employers have rejected candidates because: 1.) Not local, and would try finding a better paying job in the closest major city. 2.) had no intention of hiring anyone, the job was posted so they could claim no available talent and bring in H1B visa worker or comply with rules about posting a position even though an internal candidate had been selected. 3.) big companies view a history of contracting as a liability for permanent positions. It's a hypocrisy that amounts to a double standard of loyalty, or they want people with little self-esteem who won't reveal the management team doesn't really know what it's doing. 4.) big companies have a quota of race/color/creed/gender to meet even though the selected candidate would not be as cost effective a someone who really knew how to do the job. 5.) big companies discriminate by age, so its not worth trying to make a move to another company.

Where I live (not the US) there are many jobs sitting empty, due to a lack of skilled workers. No one posts a job, unless they intend to hire someone. People do relocate, but mostly, people commute long distances to work, rather than relocate. In many cases, couples live in one city, and travel to their jobs in neighbouring cities. I know many people who have changed jobs frequently in the last 10 years, without relocating. At this point in time I see help wanted signs posted everywhere. Roadside signs that normally advertise what is on sale, now display the types of skilled employees they are looking to hire. This shows how desperate businesses are to find skilled workers, as the normal channels for finding workers aren’t working.

Just saying that there are plenty of jobs available doesn't say anything about the quality of those jobs. Nobody is going to move for a job stacking inventory at Lowes. And nobody is going to move to San Francisco and pay $4000/month rent for a $75,000/year job. This isn't the America of the great industrialists anymore.

I recently filled 3 IT jobs. 1 was a replacement hire. Everyone I hired lived nearby and were US citizens. They were all looking for a job closer to home. I think 2 of them were over 50. Almost all the younger people I interviewed had attitude issues. They wanted to dictate what they worked on. I wished them good luck with that and ended the interview on the spot.

In response to JoJo and KidHorn; it has been my experience that most employers prefer younger workers, even if they have less experience and are less likely to be loyal to the job. When I talk to employers, I often try to explain that older workers are often looking for their “last” job, and are unlikely to leave because it is so difficult for them to find work again. They will often be the most loyal employees and the best workers. Younger workers are often looking for a “stepping stone” to a better job and are less likely to stay. This is not to criticize young workers. They have simply grown up in a different world than their parents. Some of the employers I talk with have finally figured this out and are beginning to hire older workers. I find it humorous when they tell me that the older workers are actually working out better than they expected!

The problem is that when you move to high cost of living areas, they think they don't have to pay you so much because you are used to earning less. When you move to low cost of living areas, they lowball you because "it's cheap here" (but not really). Specifically in one instance, I noted a particular notable midwest city with "low cost of living" but once you get past the sticker price of housing and gas and groceries, you realize you are going to get soaked on state income tax and healthcare. Their flattened tax structure will increase our state bill by thousands. Relatives in the area talk about spending a few hundred dollars here and there out of pocket for medical visits and drugs under their PPOs while we spend $10-25 per visit and nothing for meds while paying the same or lower premiums then they do!!! And it isn't just because I have good insurance, I've had insurance like this at every job where I live. On top of that you'll pay more for energy even though the per unit cost is lower because you'll require more heating and cooling... after thoroughly looking into the matter I have new appreciation for why people we know seem to struggle to get by there.