Solutions Economic and Market Watch

Hello and welcome to the Economic and Market Watch podcast. This is John Suter of CFC.

Often wonder where those college graduates in your state end up? States invest in public colleges and give nonprofit status to private ones to build a better-educated workforce. States have a vested interest to attract and retain talent.

Well, what if their graduates move away? It's about as simple as Paul Simon's lyrics in "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover." The words say it all when there are no strings attached.

You just slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan. You don't need to be coy, Roy. Just get yourself free. Hop on the bus, Gus. You don't need to discuss much. Just drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free.

Folks, it's as easy as that after graduation, especially when having a job already lined up at a destination of your choice. You see, the biggest losers of so-called college graduate brain drain are small rural states. For example, Vermont, West Virginia, New Hampshire -- places lacking the urban hubs that offer opportunity to newly minted bachelors.

Ironically, the nation's capital, where I live just outside in the state of Virginia, produces relatively few graduates of its own but draws heavily from the rest of the country, making Washington, D. C. one of the brain drain's biggest winners. In fact, the District of Columbia appears to draw in six times as many graduates as it produces.

And guess what? A little sidebar here, I am one of them. I left the state of Ohio back in 1984 upon graduation from Bowling Green State University to accept a job with National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation. Not only a mouthful, but a company that I'd never heard of.

But I was able to get my toe in the door through my hometown cooperative, Dark County Rural Electric. I've been here ever since raising a family, so I'm speaking from experience on this topic. Other winners within the U.S. are primarily states with cities that offer large, dynamic, and regionally vital job opportunities that are highly desired by today's workforce similar to the DC area. That will include states such as Colorado, New York, Washington, California, Illinois, Georgia, Texas, Minnesota, and Massachusetts.

The fact of the matter is that cities provide the jobs necessary to keep local graduates from looking for greener pastures out of their state.

And as we all know, that first job is often the hardest to get given the competing factors. Although in the current job market, it seems where you might live is not as important given that approximately 30% of our workforce continues to work from home.

That's it for the day. I promise no more singing next week or an attempt to sing.

Thank you for listening and be sure to download the Economic and Market Watch dashboard.