Never actually heard the term "knowledge worker" before; seems a bit obnoxious and classist. So what do we call people who aren't "knowledge workers"--ignorant workers?
Regardless, this article raises some interesting issues to ponder.
1. As someone who is from one of these LCOL places that the New Yorkers and Californians suddenly think are so appealing, the anecdotal message I get from my friends/family that never left is: "We're full, thank you very much."
2. If "culture" derives at least in part from how a particular place makes a living--cowboys, farmers, coal workers, longshoremen, fishing, military, Hollywood, manufacturing, "Office Space" office workers, etc.--what kind of culture will we get when the people who live in a particular place can mostly be divided into (1) "knowledge workers" who work virtually at home for corporations and with colleagues located elsewhere, and (2) the non-"knowledge workers" who serve them?
3. This could potentially deal the death blow to localism generally.
4.
If I had to guess, any "career downsizing" trends will be relatively short term, because I tend to think that once we figure out the new normal, we "knowledge workers" are not likely to give up our inclination to define ourselves by and seek affirmation from our careers; and when that's the most important thing we got going, that's where we're going to expend our time and energy.It’s unclear whether career downsizing will grow into a sustained movement.
5. But I wonder if this worker disbursement trend won't be more permanent, with mega-cities becoming less populous, but with the rest of the country more rapidly growing into one coast-to-coast suburban strip mall, where every place looks like every place else? (Again, no love for localism.)