Employment is very high right now so people are pretty comfortable and don't have a big need to put a lot of effort in finding a new job. In other words, companies really need to sell a new job.
That combined with a housing market that is actually not great in terms of sky rocketing prices and increasing interest rates means that a lot of people would have to take financial risks moving and would have to risk a downgrade of their current situation. Especially if they already have a house. And then of the places with the highest needs for workers are exactly where it's most expensive to move to.
That adds up to a lot of hassle to find a new place, a lot of risk and uncertainty, and financial risk for basically a new job. And with everybody hiring, finding a new/better job is not the issue.
So, a lot of companies that maybe aren't so hot, that aren't in a particularly nice part of the world, would struggle to convince people to come to them.
I'm not from the US but I see a lot of this as an (ex) freelancer in Germany where a lot of companies in the middle of nowhere end up with expensive, remote working freelancers based in the bigger cities because they can't hire locally and because freelancers are generally not going to relocate to middle of nowhere Germany for a few months; or do the horrible commute on a regular basis. Just not a thing. That's the price of doing business in middle of nowhere Germany. Move your company to where you can hire if that is a problem for you. Or just pay the premium. I imagine it's the same in a lot of more rural parts of the US where the local talent pool is pretty small.
I'd venture to say a lot of companies based in 2nd/3rd tier locations simply did the math of hiring freelancers vs opening an office in those 1st tier locations and it was cheaper just to pay the remote workers.
It's almost as if remote work is good for the worker bees and good for the business, but bad for the useless middle managers who's only job is to make sure people are working performatively.
That combined with a housing market that is actually not great in terms of sky rocketing prices and increasing interest rates means that a lot of people would have to take financial risks moving and would have to risk a downgrade of their current situation. Especially if they already have a house. And then of the places with the highest needs for workers are exactly where it's most expensive to move to.
That adds up to a lot of hassle to find a new place, a lot of risk and uncertainty, and financial risk for basically a new job. And with everybody hiring, finding a new/better job is not the issue.
So, a lot of companies that maybe aren't so hot, that aren't in a particularly nice part of the world, would struggle to convince people to come to them.
I'm not from the US but I see a lot of this as an (ex) freelancer in Germany where a lot of companies in the middle of nowhere end up with expensive, remote working freelancers based in the bigger cities because they can't hire locally and because freelancers are generally not going to relocate to middle of nowhere Germany for a few months; or do the horrible commute on a regular basis. Just not a thing. That's the price of doing business in middle of nowhere Germany. Move your company to where you can hire if that is a problem for you. Or just pay the premium. I imagine it's the same in a lot of more rural parts of the US where the local talent pool is pretty small.