Grads on the go: Measuring college-specific labor markets for graduates
Johnathan G. Conzelmann
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Steven W. Hemelt
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Correspondence
Steven W. Hemelt, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Public Policy, Abernethy Hall, 131 S. Columbia St., Chapel Hill, NC 27599. Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorBrad J. Hershbein
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Search for more papers by this authorKevin M. Stange
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Search for more papers by this authorJohnathan G. Conzelmann
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Steven W. Hemelt
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Correspondence
Steven W. Hemelt, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Public Policy, Abernethy Hall, 131 S. Columbia St., Chapel Hill, NC 27599. Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorBrad J. Hershbein
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Search for more papers by this authorKevin M. Stange
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
This paper introduces a new measure of the labor markets served by colleges and universities across the United States. About 50% of recent college graduates are living and working in the metro area nearest the institution they attended, with this figure climbing to 67% in-state. The geographic dispersion of alumni is more than twice as great for highly selective 4-year institutions as for 2-year institutions. However, more than one quarter of 2-year institutions disperse alumni more diversely than the average public 4-year institution. In one application of these data, we find that the average strength of the labor market to which a college sends its graduates predicts college-specific intergenerational economic mobility. In a second application, we quantify the extent of “brain drain” across areas and illustrate the importance of considering migration patterns of college graduates when estimating the social return on public investment in higher education.
Supporting Information
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