A Bloomberg article today reported that 1.6% of job seekers relocated to take a new job in the first quarter of 2023. According to the article, that’s “the lowest level on record.”

That statistic really jumped out at me. That means people are now choosing where they live based on factors other than their work. I’m sure other things, such as low unemployment making competition for talent fierce and high interest rates making buying a new home more expensive and less appealing, are playing into this. But it still says a lot about the shift in employee psychology.

I don’t think this change is limited to employees. I suspect founder psychology has also changed. Founders are choosing where to build companies based on personal factors like quality of life—not proximity to investors or traditional tech talent pools.

If this dispersion of founders continues, I’m curious to see how seed-stage venture capital funds adjust their sourcing strategies.