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I've written recently on this site about my difficulty in finding a job as a recent college grad, and was bombarded with comments suggesting I relocate. This is

I've written recently on this site about my difficulty in finding a job as a recent college grad, and was bombarded with comments suggesting I relocate. This is precisely why I won't. Income inequality means that those areas are incredibly risky to move to without a nice financial cushion, and with a child on the way, I'm not going to make that risk. What can be done about regional inequality? Because such economic trends will do nothing but continue to destabilize our country in the future. Edit: To those downvoting me, can you please explain? I don't understand.

cletus 9y ago
Serious question: why are you having children in such a financially precarious situation when it’s only going to increase your living costs? EDIT: by “financially precarious” I mean that above you said you were a new grad having difficulty finding work. I assume it is your intent to work after the baby is born (rather than being the primary caregiver) or it wouldn’t matter so much about finding work. If your wife returns to work and you work you’ll need to pay for care and/or rely on family support. If she doesn’t return to work and she’s the one with steady employment then that’s a problem (financially). Hence my question.
- Xavi 9y ago
  Not everyone "decides" to have kids. Sometimes it just happens.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - DanCarvajal 9y ago
    Everyone who has kids decided to do so, the only thing that varies is the amount of options considered.
    - dnautics 9y ago
      occasionally a deity will impregnate you in the form of a swan, or through the ear.
  - nradov 9y ago
    Spontaneous parthenogenesis?
- TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
  Assuming I'm in a "financially precarious situation" is a bit presumptuous. My wife is an employed college grad, and we have much more saved than the average American. We have health insurance, and have already completely paid off the medical bills for her birth. We are fine. It's still too risky and difficult for us to relocate, though. Our family all lives nearby, so we have a support structure here. My wife has an established career in a low cost of living area. Housing is incredibly cheap. We mesh with the culture here. When I get a job, we'll be able to buy a house pretty easily. It's just tough for me to get an IT job, because most low level positions have been outsourced in my area.
  - istorical 9y ago
    The circumstances of your area are so individual that without specifying a specific city or town you're pretty much not going to get any useful advice. And generalizing the Bay Area to all other higher salary + higher CoL places is also going to yield no useful insight. Or in other words - your parent comment about how articles like this are why you don't consider relocating neglects the fact that there are likely middle ground locations where you could be paid a higher wage while still paying a lower rent. One simply can't extrapolate that much when looking at CoL or salary.
  - disnsj 9y ago
    You don’t have to justify to anyone why you are having a child. (As a parent, I can see by you’re set up better than most) If for no other reason having children is our biological raison d’être. Go tell a squirell it’s not rich enough to procreate! Children are brought up with very little means everyday; they don’t need rich parents. Children are seen by our rich society as a luxury good that only the well off are worthy of buying. Instead what children need are strong loving parents. (I’m so anoyed at the parents of my kid’s spoiled friends, and she not even three) I lived for three months in Cali (Santa Barbara) and it is one of the last places in N. America I would raise my daughter. Only the despair from the poorest, heroin addicted, countries in WV would rank lower. A well employed parent, a well educated spouse and grandparents to help. We should all be so lucky!
  - foobarian 9y ago

cletus 9y ago

Serious question: why are you having children in such a financially precarious situation when it’s only going to increase your living costs? EDIT: by “financially precarious” I mean that above you said you were a new grad having difficulty finding work. I assume it is your intent to work after the baby is born (rather than being the primary caregiver) or it wouldn’t matter so much about finding work. If your wife returns to work and you work you’ll need to pay for care and/or rely on family support. If she doesn’t return to work and she’s the one with steady employment then that’s a problem (financially). Hence my question.

Xavi 9y ago
Not everyone "decides" to have kids. Sometimes it just happens.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- DanCarvajal 9y ago
  Everyone who has kids decided to do so, the only thing that varies is the amount of options considered.
  - dnautics 9y ago
    occasionally a deity will impregnate you in the form of a swan, or through the ear.
- nradov 9y ago
  Spontaneous parthenogenesis?
TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
Assuming I'm in a "financially precarious situation" is a bit presumptuous. My wife is an employed college grad, and we have much more saved than the average American. We have health insurance, and have already completely paid off the medical bills for her birth. We are fine. It's still too risky and difficult for us to relocate, though. Our family all lives nearby, so we have a support structure here. My wife has an established career in a low cost of living area. Housing is incredibly cheap. We mesh with the culture here. When I get a job, we'll be able to buy a house pretty easily. It's just tough for me to get an IT job, because most low level positions have been outsourced in my area.
- istorical 9y ago
  The circumstances of your area are so individual that without specifying a specific city or town you're pretty much not going to get any useful advice. And generalizing the Bay Area to all other higher salary + higher CoL places is also going to yield no useful insight. Or in other words - your parent comment about how articles like this are why you don't consider relocating neglects the fact that there are likely middle ground locations where you could be paid a higher wage while still paying a lower rent. One simply can't extrapolate that much when looking at CoL or salary.
- disnsj 9y ago
  You don’t have to justify to anyone why you are having a child. (As a parent, I can see by you’re set up better than most) If for no other reason having children is our biological raison d’être. Go tell a squirell it’s not rich enough to procreate! Children are brought up with very little means everyday; they don’t need rich parents. Children are seen by our rich society as a luxury good that only the well off are worthy of buying. Instead what children need are strong loving parents. (I’m so anoyed at the parents of my kid’s spoiled friends, and she not even three) I lived for three months in Cali (Santa Barbara) and it is one of the last places in N. America I would raise my daughter. Only the despair from the poorest, heroin addicted, countries in WV would rank lower. A well employed parent, a well educated spouse and grandparents to help. We should all be so lucky!
- foobarian 9y ago