Posted on 16th August 2017, by James Howell
A new report by the Resolution Foundation shows graduates tend to stay in their home towns as regional migration takes a downturn.
In a report released this week by the Resolution Foundation shows graduates are hesitant to fly the nest after they return from university. The report, entitled 'Get A Move On? The decline in regional job-to-job moves and its impact on productivity and pay', shows the amount of people who have moved regions for work and an employers has declined from 0.8% to 0.6%.
Stephen Clark's report found the reluctance to move among graduates had a negative effect on their salaries, while those who do change employer and job enjoy an 11% increase on average. Clark also importantly notes the increase in graduates in non-graduate work has risen from 31% in 2001 to 35.6% last year.
The Resolution Foundation found different areas in the UK experienced predicatble problems with national migration. From 2013 to 2016, 39,000 more graduates moved to the south east than left. While areas like Yorkshire and Humberside, the North East and the West Midlands suffered a negative migration of graduates.
Stephen Clark says the problem does not just concern the individual who may miss out on a pay rise, but it impacts the whole UK.
"Job mobility matters not just for the individual getting the pay rise but to our economy as a whole," he says.
"On a basic level that's about avoiding labour shortages, but more importantly in an economy nearing full employment, ensuring the talent and potential of individuals and firms doesn't go to waste is essential to boosting productivity."
"But not everyone can up sticks. Alongside encouraging more mobility among the minority of in-work people - such as young people and graduates - for whom it is often more feasible to move, we should be improving thinking on how people can move into jobs they are qualified for without uprooting their family's lives."
"That involves thinking not just about progression and employment, but housing and transport too."
Image Credit: Fabrizio Verrecchia