Do Sim workers ever change jobs?

[TheMurderousCricket 5,109]

Hi Guys,

There is one thing that I accepted so far but, at the same time, have always been wondering about.

When building some of my cities, I noticed that some of my residents feel very attached to their jobs...

What I mean to say is that they always seem to stick to the jobs they have initially found when moving into the city. That is, even after their EQ rises! As a result, it seems that someone who started to work in CS$$ will refuse to work in CO$$$ or I-HT.

My question is if this is the natural way the simulator works or not really?

I have also noticed this, unfortunately, when I tried to combat a significant unemployment problem in one of my cities. The residential blocks affected by this trouble seem to always obtain employment in some of the businesses around their homes and then loose their jobs. After a while, however, they resettle the block and get employed at exact same jobs that they didn't like in the first place... 

[rsc204 21,866]

What you are noticing is simply a function of how the Traffic Simulator works in regards to finding jobs for sims. It will periodically run and during that time, all sims will look to once more find the quickest route to a job, if they do will prefer to take that job. But the simulator runs for each given area in turn and it could well be that sims shift around before settling into much the same jobs/businesses they previously worked at. This is necessary because as your cities develop, circumstances will change and this needs to be accounted for.

3 hours ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

I have also noticed this, unfortunately, when I tried to combat a significant unemployment problem in one of my cities.

You would probably be better off tackling the root cause of unemployment, which is not enough or enough of the right jobs for your sims. This can also be caused when existing Com/Ind buildings are understaffed, for example an I-HT job needs around 8% R$, 80% R$$ and 12% R$$$ to operate, EQ is also a factor in this equation too. If your population can't fully satisfy the jobs at existing factories, this imbalance needs to be addressed by bringing in the correct sim types needed for higher occupancy of those businesses.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,109]

1 hour ago, rsc204 said:

It will periodically run and during that time, all sims will look to once more find the quickest route to a job, if they do will prefer to take that job.

Then it looks like I must have misunderstood how it all works. I always thought that Sims choose jobs by judging how desirable they are for them. Not how quickly they can get there? I think I can recall either Cori or Naomi57 doing some experiments on the job desirability patterns and it made perfect sense to me...? 

1 hour ago, rsc204 said:

You would probably be better off tackling the root cause of unemployment, which is not enough or enough of the right jobs for your sims.

It does make sense but, for the first time in a while, I simply don't have any ideas what should I do. When these R$ a**holes do have a job, they work in I-D and CS$ mostly. There is about 1100 of them employed in these places. However, they seem to quit these jobs, zot the building, then reemploy themselves. It goes around - a truly vicious circle.

The thing is that demand for most developer types (except all R, CS$, CS$$, I-AG and I-D) in this city is negative as well so I don't have an idea what else I could do.

[rsc204 21,866]

13 minutes ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

I always thought that Sims choose jobs by judging how desirable they are for them. Not how quickly they can get there?

The Traffic Simulator is just finding the quickest path to suitable jobs, but this is only one part of the process, before that it will look to see which sims need new jobs and try to find the most suitable. Then it looks to see if there is a valid path between the two, in this sense desirability will be factored in, matching the various wealth/eq combos to available jobs. In a situation where you have a lot of underemployed people, i.e. working in jobs that are below their education levels, that indicates not enough higher EQ jobs are available for everyone who might otherwise qualify.

13 minutes ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

When these R$ a**holes do have a job, they work in I-D and CS$ mostly. 

If you consider the proportion of I-D/CS$ workers, they will predominately be R$, given your negative demand, it appears your economy might be suffering a recession. Although the game never alludes to such things directly, it's usually a consequence of over development, if you rush to zone/build too quickly, often more will grow than your actual city can support. This can lead to a whole bunch of issues, whilst the game tries to rebalance everything.

But if you have Negative Demand, then the following may well apply (Prima Guide - Pg 68):

Quote

NEGATIVE DEMAND

Avoid letting demand for any developer type drop below zero. Negative demand causes mass abandonment and other ugliness.

Negative demand occurs when there’s an over- supply of a demanded developer type. Say, for instance, there’s high demand for Residential. If you zone to meet this demand and something subsequently changes in your Commercial or Industrial zones that cause Residential demand to drop, you may have more workers than your other developer types can absorb.

Abandonment can be a sign of many things. Negative demand is one of them.

Oversupply causes the simulation to take over and restore equilibrium between supply and demand. Its only tool is mass exodus of popu- lation. All of the excess inhabitants abandon their buildings and move out of the city to restore demand to 0.

They’re gone but you have to stick around and deal with the cascading consequences of mass abandonment (heightened flammability, wildly swinging demand fluctuations, etc.). It’s not a precise process, so bad things are bound to ensue.

Underreact to demand. To see why, consider the concept of overdevelopment.

OVERDEVELOPMENT

Be wary of overdevelopment. If, in moving to satisfy demand, you provide too much of the demanded zones, your Sims may develop too enthusiastically.

Sim developers are inclined toward overdevelopment, so keep them on a tight leash. This is problematic with high-density zoning where one building can contain several thousand occupants (demand satisfaction).

Too much development can become negative demand (see “Negative Demand”) and this can lead to abandonment.

As a rule, zone less than you think you need, especially if you’re dealing with high-density zones and their potential for high-capacity buildings. You can also increase taxes to temper overdevelopment.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,109]

True, overdevelopment might have happened in this city.

I just don't really understand why the game engine is so particular about, say, underdevelopment. IRL there are also many people who simply don't like their jobs or work at places that are far from their perceived ideal employment. If it was up to me, I would probably program the game to give mayor approval penalty for underemployment or something instead of sending population graphs rollercoastering till the end of Universe.

[CorinaMarie 29,894]

On 11/21/2022 at 7:01 AM, TheMurderousCricket said:

I can recall either Cori or Naomi57 doing some experiments on the job desirability patterns and it made perfect sense to me...? 

I'm sure Cori did one here long, long ago and it wouldn't surprise me if @Naomi57 did something as well. She's always been very detail oriented and the way she designs her cities makes it very probable she posted about jobs and traffic patterns.

And yes, my experience too was that the Sims will hang on to a job forever so that by the time my residential grew by the new factories most of the local jobs were taken and I had to force the the outsiders to look elsewhere.

This was also confirmed:

On 1/6/2017 at 12:35 AM, Prophet42 said:

Also keep in mind that once a sim finds a job, they tend to keep that job, unless their route gets blocked, the building is destroyed or delapidates, or their wealth level changes.  This occurs with or without the NAM installed.

 

Now, about this part:

On 11/21/2022 at 7:01 AM, TheMurderousCricket said:

However, they seem to quit these jobs, zot the building, then reemploy themselves. It goes around - a truly vicious circle.

Which building is being zotted? If it's where they were employed then it's not the Sim getting mad, quitting, and later reconsidering, but more likely it's because of low or negative demand then the building is considering dilapidating or abandoning which drives out the worker Sims. Then there are a bunch of Sims needing a job so the simulator gives them the ones they just left.