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Date: March 11 2010
Source: extraspace.com
Website: http://www.extraspace.com/news/post/2010/03/11/Fewer-Employers-Offer-Relocation-Assistance.aspx

The average cost for a family to relocate from one part of the United States to another can vary from $18,355 to $76,600, according to Worldwide ERC, an association dedicated to workforce mobility. (Worldwide ERC last gathered these statistics in 2007 -- the cost of relocation today may be even higher.) Before the recession set in, it was becoming common for companies asking employees to relocate to pick up the tab, whether they were asking current employees to move or hiring new employees from out of town or out of state. But now, according to a recent MSNBC report, fewer companies are offering relocation assistance to pay for expenses ranging from moving and storage to selling a house and/or making an extra trip across the country to look for housing. 

"A lot of people are landlocked because companies want to pay less, not more, to bring in new talent," Nancy Keene, a director at Stanton Chase (a recruiting firm) told MSNBC's Eve Tahmincioglu. 

"We see a huge trend of people moving for jobs but paying for their own relocation," Avenue West Corporate Housing owner Kimberly Smith agreed. 

Although fewer companies are offering relocation assistance to new employees, that does not mean that employees themselves cannot raise the issue. Writing for the NWJobs syndicated column, "Ask the Headhunter," last Sunday, Nick Corcodilos advised new employees to commit to the job first, and then express concern about the cost of relocation. He suggests asking human resource managers for help in calculating the cost of living in the new city, and recommends that employees approach the topic with a statement like "I want to hit the ground running when I start working for you, without worries about my home life and finances." 

Having even a little bit of relocation assistance from the new employer can make a big difference to employees and their families. Relocating can cause a family to incur many expected and unexpected expenses:

• moving costs
• packing expenses
• gas for a move
• travel expenses if multiple trips for interviews and home hunting are needed
• self-storage for the transition between homes
• expenses related to putting a home on the market and/or penalties related to paying off a mortgage early
• lost income for a spouse who must give up a job

Meanwhile, at the end of 2009, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that it will drop the rate at which individuals and companies can claim employee relocation mileage as a business expense. In 2009, the IRS would allow a deduction of 24 cents per mile for an employee relocation, but in 2010, it will allow only 16.5 cents per mile. The new rate is the lowest mileage reimbursement rate for employee relocations offered by the IRS since 2005. So employees cannot look for as much relief from their tax refunds as they might have hoped for in the past, either.