Boston is a distinctive city, known by many for its seafood, sports and students. As high rent costs and the tech boom force students to rethink the locations of their future home cities, the Boston area must consider how to retain the young talent for which it has long been recognized. Although Boston prides itself on being a vibrant metropolis with an array of academic resources to support a thriving young population, one downside often stands in the way — the dark and dreary weather.
While any city on the East Coast can expect relentless snow and rain, Boston is the furthest north and the furthest east of America’s major urban areas. Due to its unique location, the city is prone to extremely early sunsets, sometimes as early as 4 or 5 p.m. in the winter.
It's no surprise that these dark afternoon hours coupled with poor weather can be major hindrances for young working people who are considering making Boston their career-launching home. Boston-based companies looking to recruit recent graduates frequently have to face the harsh reality that it is incredibly difficult to prevent young people from leaving Boston behind to jet off to other places like the sunny Silicon Valley.
It appears, however, that the state may be making an effort to fix this problem. Governor Charlie Baker recently signed a bill that orders a study into the possibility of moving the state of Massachusetts into a time zone that would increase daylight hours during the months that the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun.
The proposition was originally put forward by Tom Emswiler, a Quincy resident who worries that Boston is losing valuable college grads to cities with preferable climates. Emswiler has suggested that Massachusetts adopt Atlantic Standard Time (AST) and become a part of the Atlantic Time Zone, which currently includes Eastern Canada, the Caribbean and parts of South America.
In addition to the zone change, he also proposes that the state do away with daylight saving time to eliminate the negative impacts that sudden time shifts can have on both our physical and mental health.
With these changes in place, the sun would set an hour later than it currently does from November through March, making Massachusetts' dreadful winter days slightly more bearable than they currently are. The shift would make working hours more comparable to those in cities with milder winters and could increase overall productivity during the winter months. Students and young adults,who tend to stay up later than the rest of the population, will likely welcome the change and find it more compatible with both their work schedules and lifestyles. Ridding the state of daylight saving time would also free Massachusetts residents from the adjustment of one’s circadian rhythm and sleep patterns to the time change.
A change like this could be a factor in favor of building a career in Massachusetts, especially for young people considering where they want to settle after college. With a bill already signed commissioning further study of the issue, a clear sign of progress has been made. There may be many different reasons New England has the lowest retention rate of college graduates compared to any other part of the country, but if Massachusetts changes its time zone to stay permanently in AST, young working people may begin to see Boston as a much more desirable city in which to start their careers.
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