Cuts to public sector could lead to 'brain drain' from North and Midlands

14 Feb 11
Public sector spending cuts could lead to an exodus of graduates from regions outside the Southeast, impeding economic recovery, according to the Work Foundation.
By Lucy Phillips


15 February 2011

Public sector spending cuts could lead to an exodus of graduates from regions outside the Southeast, impeding economic recovery, according to the Work Foundation. 

In a report published today, the think-tank says that because graduates in the North and Midlands are disproportionately employed in the public sector, spending cuts are likely to result in a ‘flight’ of university leavers away from these areas to places with stronger private sectors in the Southeast.

Some 20% of new graduates are already unemployed and the situation is expected to get worse as cuts bite into the public sector, which takes on proportionately more graduates than the private sector.

The report, Cutting the apron strings? The clustering of young graduates and the role of the public sector, warns that patterns of improved graduate retention in cities and regions outside the Southeast risk being reversed altogether. The resulting ‘brain drain’ would impede economic recovery, it says.

Leeds, Sheffield and Rotherham have experienced particularly large increases in graduates over the past decade.

Jonathan Wright, research assistant at the Work Foundation and author of the report, urged the government to ‘demonstrate its commitment to rebalance the economy’.

He said: ‘High-skilled graduates are vital for urban innovation and growth. With the scrapping of schemes such as the Future Jobs Fund, the coalition must now focus on developing strategies aimed at integrating the highly skilled into local private sector jobs.

‘Not doing so risks exacerbating regional divides between successful cities and regions (mainly located in the Southeast) and those in the North and Midlands.’

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