I disagree on half of your later comment "… Most of generation x graduated from college into an absolutely terrible job market. So the idea of relocating away from a significant other was less prominent because there were no jobs worth relocating for."

I disagree with this part: "the idea of relocating away from a significant other was less prominent". I think long-distance moves are *more* likely to happen in a BAD job market. But they are not chosen by people who have a decent job already, and are typically moves to locations that were not one's first choice or second, and they are hoping the move is temporary, just a year or two (hah!).

I'm thinking of several friends and relatives and myself too, who were faced with the choice of unemployment versus a long-distance move to an area that was not so attractive to them. Yes, those who had been married or in a serious relationship for several years were the least likely to make the long-distance moves. But they were typically the same people who had had more years of career experience and perhaps a larger network.

Beyond the immediate financial survival concerns, the other big worry was the question: How many months or years can a person be unemployed, before it does permanent damage to one's perception by potential employers? How many months or years can someone be extremely underemployed, way below one's abilities (e.g. Ph.D. at the order counter of a fast-food restaurant or driving a taxicab), before it does permanent damage to how one is perceived by potential employers? I don't know the answer to these questions of how long. Perhaps an idea for a future blog post?

BTW, a general tidbit of feedback (from someone who likes the vast majority of your blog): The statements I find most annoying from you are when you make generalizations about Gen X or Gen Y or Boomers, and what their differences in values and desires may be. For each generation, their proclamations, choices, and actions, all undergo changes when faced with unforeseen major changes to the economy, or calamities (e.g. civil war, invasion).

I'm going to make an annoying generalization: Every generation who grows up during stable years of prosperity in a stable country, tends to make confident, smug statements during their young adulthood about how they are going to balance work life and personal life (although the buzz words for expressing that concept are different for each gen), and they will live by higher ideals than the previous gens, and say they are unconcerned with earning money, say they don't care about job security, will never work at a boring job, would not stay at a dreadful job just because it is a source of health insurance, etc. [Doesn't that merely describe the way any gen would want to live?] Eventually they are hit by a recession, and their attitude of smug superiority over the previous gen(s) is modified. And parenthood just makes the stakes higher. Two good things that may happen during a recession are: the realization that who we are is not so different, at a personal level, than previous generations, and a better attitude towards those who live in poorer countries.