The UK government has announced that it wants to encourage the jobless to move to areas of the UK where work is in greater supply. The idea is to lessen the disparity between high numbers of unemployed in some areas, and unfilled vacancies in others. However, aside from the fact that no part of the UK has zero unemployment, there are important doubts about whether relocation benefits anyone. Furthermore, given that we know have Internet business, giving people the chance to work from home in online jobs, why does anyone have to go through the ordeal of relocation simply to secure employment?

Relocating to another area may be more viable for certain people than for others. Perhaps those in their twenties, who don’t have children and don’t own a house, can more easily move to any part of the country or overseas to look for work. However in this country, there is a culture that holds that people should invest in property. Once somebody has bought a house, it is significantly more difficult to sell up and move somewhere else. There is the problem of finding a purchaser, and the notorious chains, which means that sales can fall through at the last minute due to numerous reasons. At the same time people have the difficulty of purchasing a house in the place you are moving to. Moreover, for people moving from areas of high unemployment to somewhere more prosperous, they may find that property is more expensive, requiring them to spend more of their income to pay a larger mortgage.

This is to say nothing of the personal implications of relocation; saying goodbye to your friends and needing to build up a fresh circle of friends in the new location. Moreover for families with children, the problems will affect them, too. Their education will be disrupted, and they will be required to leave their friends and find new ones in an unfamiliar place. There is the worry of looking for alternative schooling in the new city that is suitable. Schools in a different area will probably not teach all the same subjects that your children were studying previously.

There are also employers who require their employees to frequently relocate. I recall someone I know who worked as a bank manager, and he was requested to move to to a remote small town in Wales. His wife said she did not wish to go there, and he declined the opportunity. As a result, he never rose above his existing grade.

But if people cannot find work in their own area, is there an alternative to relocating? Internet business means that it is, to a large degree, unimportant where you are located. For example, is it important to know where I was when I was writing this article, or where you are as you are reading it? I can work from home, doing whatever that pays me a wage, thus in effect a new kind of online jobs has emerged, allowing businesses to have dealings with customers via the Web.

So, perhaps the way to deal with joblessness is not for the unemployed to ‘get on their bike’ as the famous quote goes, but to go onto the Web, and find the online jobs that will allow them to work from home. Some may necessitate a modest investment, for training or capital. But compared to that, how much money is involved in relocating – in house seeking, surveyors and solicitors fees, etcetera? They are hardly likely to be less, and the social and psychological costs are possibly even greater.

For many who actually wish to move to another part of Britain for motives of their own, obviously they will have to make the move. Even so, given the chances available in Internet business, nobody should now need to do so simply to look for work.