I am not convinced that location is hampering our ability to attract top talent either. In tech, many, if not most tech workers today are actively seeking or negotiating remote work. Connecticut has actually seen population growth because of this. In New Jersey the housing market is on fire because of all of the new remote workers moving here.

The major factor for attracting talent will be compensation which combined with remote work isn't exactly location dependent. Tech workers today command top dollar and competition is extremely fierce.

Other jobs within ARRL are mission based and I'm not convinced that changing location is going to attract and retain talent. People work for ARRL for various reasons but a big one is that they believe in the mission.

Due to nonprofit status I don't think that the tax climate is that big of a deal for us and the real costs of uprooting and moving the organization would be immense. Not to mention that we would still have a presence in connecticut for historic reasons (think of the diamond terrace donors and their bricks and benches, let's move all that?)

With growth, cost of living will also increase. Florida for example has seen explosive growth but lots of new toll roads and higher cost of living. Texas housing is also pretty expensive now.

Don't get me wrong - I would enjoy having good bbq at every board meeting and flying out to Texas, but I don't see it as a magic silver bullet.

73 and happy new year.

Ria

N2RJ

John,

Very interesting. But does not correlate with economic growth:

https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state

In any case statistics are fun. Have I told you about the New York Metropolitan Art Museum? They installed counting turnstiles to keep track of people entering the building. Every year there was an increase in the number of people entering the building. That led to a strong argument to ask the city for a budget increase. One year there was a precipitous drop in the number of visitors. In investigating the matter, it was discovered that at the start of that year, a small building with restrooms was built in the park outside the museum.

Have a wonderful New Year. Looking forward to seeing you in Hartford.

Art

On 12/31/2021 5:32 AM, John Robert Stratton wrote:

All

    See the following articles that quantify the shift of the US population from the Northeast, Midwest and West to the South.

https://www.dailyinfographic.com/united-states-domestic-migration-2021

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2021/12/new-us-census-data-major-migration-from-blue-states-to-red-states.html

    This directly impacts our efforts to hire or retain competent and productive employees and again highlights the continued, and worsening, lack of business sense in remaining headquartered in a failing economic environment.

    The mantra was once "move west"; in this century, hard data says it is "move south."



_______________________________________

John Robert Stratton

N5AUS

Director

West Gulf Division

Office:             512-445-6262

Cell:                512-426-2028

P.O. Box 2232

Austin, Texas 78768-2232

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