布伦达·麦克唐纳卖的是食物，不是酒店房间。但这并没有阻止马里兰州西部四家餐馆的老板在附近修理一家汽车旅馆，这样她的员工就有地方住了。
加勒特县的房价在过去一年中上涨了8.5%，所以麦克唐奈看到了她丈夫在附近一处闲置的房产的机会。她重新装修了一组房间，有时每月收费几百美元，或者干脆让餐馆员工免费住在那里。结果是:她的员工可以保住工作，否则他们可能会因为买不起房而拒绝工作。
“人们会问，‘布伦达，我能把房子租一个月吗?我给你800美元，’”麦克唐纳说。“我可以赚钱。但我说，‘不，这是给员工的。’”
房租终于降温了。看看你所在地区的物价变化了多少。
在全国各地，像麦克唐奈这样的雇主发现自己被夹在了火热的房地产市场和就业市场之间。在俄勒冈州，农村学区一直困惑于如何为教师提供足够的住房。在亚利桑那州的农村地区，医院将房间出租给工作人员。在马萨诸塞州，该州为科德角的暑期工人提供了临时住房。
其结果是两大经济支柱之间的拉锯战。在小规模的交易中，这些交易只是企业主和员工在一对一的协议中解决问题。但是，房地产市场引发的潜在紧张可能会永久地影响人们如何决定住在哪里，从事什么工作，以及经济是否对他们有利。
没有人认为住房短缺足以破坏劳动力市场的增长势头。毕竟，雇主已经连续34个月增加了员工，而就业市场仍在动荡。但一些经济学家仍然担心该国住房挑战的连锁反应。在最需要住房的地方建造足够多的住房之前，更多的公司将不得不通过提高工资、远程工作选择或其他福利来发挥创意，以确保员工能找到居住的地方。
房地产市场的衰退已经结束
波士顿联邦储备银行(Federal Reserve Bank of Boston)行长苏珊·柯林斯(Susan Collins)说，她听说有些公司提供了工作机会，但后来却因为找不到地方住而把这些候选人解雇了。在她所在的从缅因州延伸到康涅狄格州的地区，一些雇主告诉她，他们已经开始为那些别无选择只能住在很远的地方的工人提供公共汽车或其他交通工具。
“我认为住房就像儿童保育，”柯林斯在8月底对《华盛顿邮报》说。“有各种各样的原因让我们担心住房供应问题，从负担得起的住房到高昂的房价。这是关键问题之一。”
住房问题是一些人仍然想要远程工作的首要原因。ZipRecruiter的首席经济学家朱莉娅·波拉克(Julia Pollak)说，她看到了一种转变，从大流行初期开始，人们基本上想呆在家里，因为他们担心感染新冠病毒。现在，通勤成本、汽油价格和租金往往是人们最关心的问题。
波拉克说，许多员工在开始找工作时也会假设自己愿意跳槽。但归根结底，搬迁的障碍往往会阻碍你。
她说:“愿意搬迁的人数与成功完成工作搬迁的实际人数之间的差距已经扩大。”“从租金成本和库存水平的数据可以清楚地看出，为什么可能会出现这种情况。”
Workers cash in on a new flexibility: Leaving the office after a few hours
Denise Moriguchi knows that the local housing market weighs on her staff in Seattle. The chief executive of Uwajimaya, a chain of Asian grocery stores, said many of her employees commute an hour by public bus, have multiple roommates or rent a couch rather than a whole room, because housing costs in the area are so high. Whenever Moriguchi considers adding new store locations, she considers the general affordability in the area and the availability of public transit, in case she’d have a hard time finding employees who live nearby.
Earlier this year, Moriguchi was hiring a new executive from Georgia. As part of a relocation package, her company covered moving costs, airfare and other expenses to help offset differences in cost of living. In another instance, when Moriguchi was hiring for a different role, the recruiting firm she was using said it would focus on potential candidates who already lived in high-cost places.
“The search firm we were working with said, ‘Yeah, we’ll look locally and on the West Coast,’” Moriguchi said. “They tended not to focus as much on the Midwest because of cost of living.”
Travel nursing has helped Sierra Levin live and work across the country, from California to Texas to Massachusetts. But when she was trying to line up a short-term contract at a hospital in Newark this year, she had a harder time than usual finding somewhere to live. Levin said it was the first time she’d struggled to find housing in her five years on the job.
Since travel nurses generally take contracts for a few months at a time, Levin was looking for a furnished, month-to-month rental. She initially looked in Jersey City but was quoted $2,000, minimum, for one bedroom in a group house. She ended up renting one room in a five-bedroom house in nearby Montclair for $1,700 — but nailed that lease down only three days before starting work.
“I don’t want more than one paycheck to go to rent,” Levin said. “That doesn’t make sense, and that’s not sustainable.”
Carey Martin is a co-founder of Custom Hiring Solutions, a national recruiting firm based in Phoenix that focuses on small businesses. Martin said she’s seen the job market change plenty over the past 20 years.
But in just the last two years, housing is increasingly pricing candidates out of job searches — even if they’re looking for short-term rentals for temporary jobs.
Martin estimates that offers don’t work out more than half the time, largely because of housing issues. And even when they do, Martin said, she’s never seen so many professionals in mid-level management roles, earning $60,000 or $75,000 per year, who still need roommates to make it work.
“We have had employers come to us and say: ‘At this point, we will do whatever we have to. If we have to pay for their temporary housing as a kind of bonus, we’ll work something unique out like that,’” Martin said. “Those are for the leadership positions and executives. For staff, and even mid-level management, the deals usually fall apart.”