The Georgia Brain Drain: Why the State Needs Graduates to Stay

Atlanta used to be one of the top cities for young college graduates to gain employment, but in the last decade, Georgia college and university graduates are increasingly seeking jobs in other large cities such as Houston, Nashville and Denver.

Young, college graduates often seek out large, metropolitan cities for employment, areas which tend to have more jobs available and higher wages. It is no surprise that the migration of college and university-educated 25-34-year-olds to suburbia right outside of metro cities has fueled economic growth for those areas. The more talented minds a city employs, the more economic growth it receives.

Ironically, states that have high economic growth in large metropolitan cities tend to have higher poverty rates. Georgia was ranked thirteenth in percentage of population living in poverty during 2013, with 16.3% of Georgians, about 1.6 million individuals, living in poverty. While there was a 9.1 percent drop from the previous year, Georgia’s poverty rate was still above the country’s average. When looking at a poverty map of Georgia counties from 2009-2013, there is a general correlation between a county’s poverty level and the percent of persons holding a bachelor’s degree or higher: the more individuals who held a bachelor’s degree or higher, the lower the country’s poverty rate.

In a TED Talk, author J. D. Vance talks about upward mobility and the dangers of brain drain from impoverished communities. Individuals who come from low-income communities that decide to pursue higher education tend to take their newly developed skills and talents to already flourishing communities after they graduate rather than back to their communities. “Because they can’t find high-skilled work at home, [talented people] end up moving elsewhere, so they don’t build a business or non-profit where they’re from, they end up going elsewhere and taking their talents with them. There are failing schools in a lot of these communities, failing to give kids the educational leg up that really makes it possible for kids to have opportunities later in life,” said Vance in his TED Talk. This “brain drain” furthers the socioeconomic gap between communities and trying to grow economically.

Read more: http://georgiapoliticalreview.com/the-georgia-brain-drain-why-the-state-needs-graduates-to-stay/