Signs of a Better Economy for Main Street Arise

“Americans are on the move again.

Thanks to the slowly brightening employment picture, along with the uptick in the housing market, more and more people are packing up and relocating. And the pace is likely to pick up this summer, the peak season for moving, according to industry professionals.

It’s a far cry from just a few years ago.

“Two years ago, it seemed like everything was falling off the face of the Earth,” said Randy Shacka, president of Two Men and a Truck, a franchise moving company.” But monthly payroll growth averaging 208,000 is turning that around—and spurring job-related moves.

Even though overall moving activity is still below where it was in 2009-2010, the number of people moving for a new job or transfer is on the rise. Moves for those reasons totaled 3.5 million in 2011-2012, up from 2.8 million the prior year and the highest since 2006-2007, according to Census Bureau data. And the number of people moving because they had lost a job or were looking for work declined.

The recovering housing market is also giving people the flexibility to move by making it easier for people to sell their homes. The National Association of Realtors’ chief economist says that with relatively few houses on the market, double-digit gains in housing prices are possible in 2013. And that, in turn, is spurring construction—making moving easier….”

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