As for those high paying jobs, if you net out cost of living, I don’t think those high tech W-2er are better off here. They just have more opportunities, but once they have a decent job, their pay vs rent isn’t as good as places like TX. But our weather and diversity here is awesome, so, people who can stretch it will stay/move in and put up w/ the higher cost of living.
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There might be not much of a choice. There might not be a comparable job elsewhere. For software and lesser extent hardware, your skills probably more readily transferable opportunity to opportunity all over the U.S…But I think for a lot of the high tech jobs, IE biotech, these jobs aren’t prevalent across the U.S…So that’s also maybe why you have some migration here, despite the cost of living. Defense business is another area prone to migration in and out depending on the political winds of change.
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The question is, what would happen when this migration trend continue for a few more decades. What would happen to all the rural area and small cities of CA? If you make min wage and live in Bakersfield, why wouldn’t you just move to places like Waco,TX? Weather is about the same, but you can buy a small house for <$100k vs $200k in Bakersfield. Also, in the big cities, I think that with more blue collar working (plumber/electrician/etc) moving out, those who are left will charge more for their service to afford the cost of living and due to simple supply/demand. So, net income for those high tech earner might not be so great.
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True.. I look at that as more problems for engineers and automation/robotics to solve :)... Maybe we get to a point that for some types of work, we simply don't need as many people to do those jobs anymore. Eventually, there will be some equilibrium. Whether it's increasing minimum wage, which leads to companies depending on more machines and/or increasing consumer costs, or both....
When that happens, don't know.
