PRESS RELEASE
September 13, 2005

Contact: Stephen Kroes, Executive Director
(801) 355-1400, ext. 5
(801) 573-8824 (mobile)

UTAH IS NOT EXPERIENCING A “BRAIN DRAIN” OF COLLEGE GRADUATES

Utah Foundation today released results of a new survey of recent Utah college graduates. The report is attached to this release. It is also available on the web at www.utahfoundation.org.

The survey was conducted to answer two main questions:

1. What are Utah’s strengths and weaknesses in retaining college graduates in the Utah workforce?
2. Is there a significant “brain drain” occurring, in which graduates leave Utah to work elsewhere?

Utah Foundation finds that there is not a significant brain drain occurring among students who graduated from Utah colleges and universities in 2004. Overall, Utah retained 71% of all Utah native graduates from public and private colleges, but the number of graduates who left the state is offset by the 43% of out-of-state students who chose to stay in Utah after graduation.

The most important factors in these graduates’ decisions on where to live are: specific job opportunities, attractive communities, future career opportunities, and the cost of living.

Utah’s strengths include: low cost of living, nice communities that rank well on various measures of livability, strong recreational opportunities, and for native students, close proximity to family.

However, Utah’s weaknesses included: fewer quality job opportunities, low wage and salary levels, weak networks for finding jobs, and limited opportunities for advanced college degrees. Regarding job opportunities and salaries, those graduates who left Utah received significantly higher pay

Overall, most graduates have entered the workforce (72%), while 22% choose to pursue advanced degrees. For those who stay in Utah after graduation, 81% have entered the workforce and 16% are pursuing further education. For those students pursuing higher degrees, the majority leave Utah, especially those seeking professional degrees, such as medicine, dentistry, and law.

Stephen Kroes, Executive Director of Utah Foundation, said, “With Utah’s population growth, we would expect to be exporting some of our young people to other parts of the country, especially as the national economy grows and demands skilled workers. It is remarkable that even with this rapid growth, Utah can keep so many young graduates in our local economy. Utah appears to be a very attractive place for young college graduates to settle down, especially when we see that more than 40% of the out-of-state students choose to stay here after graduation.”

“Because Utah is not experiencing a brain drain among college graduates, we appear to be getting a pretty good bang for our buck in higher education spending,” Kroes said.

The research report is available to the public on our website at www.utahfoundation.org.

Utah Foundation is a nonprofit research organization. Our mission is to encourage informed public policy making and to serve as Utah’s trusted source for independent, objective research on crucial public policy issues.