Job relocation woes

More workers are turning down jobs because they don't want to relocate. And more companies are struggling to pay relocation expenses in a budget-cutting environment.

In short, it's getting harder to convince people to move from city to city in pursuit of work.

The Employee Relocation Council says about 720,000 Americans relocate each year for career reasons. The costs of moving and setting up a new home average $16,177 for new hires who plan to rent, according to CORT, a rental relocation service and rental furniture provider.

Costs go much higher for relocating families that have a lot of possessions to move.

You've probably heard semi-horror stories about corporate relocations to jobs that disappeared after a year. That's a lot of upheaval, especially for workers who have working spouses and children in schools.

To fight employees' disinclination to move, some companies are beefing up their relocation budgets, according to Atlas Van Lines 2008 Corporate Relocation Survey. Some spruced-up relo packages include job-finding support for workers' spouses. Others add more company-paid services, such as packing and car moving as well as covering basic moving expenses.

The Atlast report said the No. 1 reason workers decline relocation is family, but concerns about mortgages "are closing the gap."