nyc isn't dead, but...

I have been thinking a lot about the future of work and the city these past months. I have always lived in NYC and the surrounding area; I am currently just outside of Manhattan in a place where my commute to work (remember that?) was 30 min or less. And of course I paid for that privilege in terms of housing and cost of living. I was happy to do so.

I changed jobs right as the pandemic was really heating up... my new firm is based in the UK and most of the people I work with are in various parts of Europe and Latin America. I have never met anyone I work with in person, and have never set foot in an office of the company. My workday starts with a few hours of video meetings with people in other time zones and continues with emails and writing in the afternoon. My team of very talented technical people works all over the world, mostly in places where making a fraction of what we would have to pay in NYC is considered good money.

This has gotten me to thinking - will people who live in the metro areas like NYC where the high cost of living has been offset by access to good jobs clustered in those area now be at a disadvantage? Why should companies hire us and pay for our lifestyle choices when they can hire someone in Manhattan, Kansas for less or in Bucharest for a fraction of what we demand? There are a lot of smart, ambitious people in the world with an Internet connection and companies are now seeing that having remote workers can work - allowing them to divest of expensive real estate as a bonus.

If I wanted to, I could pick up and move pretty much anywhere with Internet and continue to make a living - for various reasons I plan to stay here, but I am in the latter part of my career - if I were younger, I might feel very differently. My neighbors have been talking about doing this.

I'd be interested to hear what the rest of you think on this topic - and whether you are thinking of leaving for more inexpensive areas. Where would you go? Do you think that the changes made by Covid will last?

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CPD