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Wednesday, April 30, 2003

By Gary Rotstein, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

At the same time that the under-65 population in the Pittsburgh region may be stabilizing, a new report focuses on a continuing "brain drain" in Pennsylvania of young and educated workers.

The state showed a net migration loss of 29,368 residents ages 20 to 29 to other states from 1999 to 2001, and a net loss of 20,038 college graduates of all ages in that same time, according to information prepared by professors from Penn State University's Population Research Institute.

Such losses were less severe than those cited in earlier studies, but that could be because there were fewer people overall in that age group than in the past.

The report, which was not broken down regionally, suggests the pattern remains disturbing for Pennsylvania's future.

"The implications of this data is that in the exchange of migrants with other states, Pennsylvania loses twice -- first, it loses more people than it gains, and second, it loses some of its best-educated labor force age workers," says the report released this month by the Pennsylvania State Data Center.

Gordon De Jong, a professor of sociology and demography who has authored such reports since the 1970s, said it's a "good news, bad news" report in that such losses continue, but at a slower rate.

He pointed to one other negative finding that is new in the report: heavy out-migration of workers with associate degrees and some college training. The state received 31,000 of those from other states but lost 52,000 from 1999-2001.

"There's some people who argue that if your economy is going to become high tech, you need these support people with additional skills training, so I'd say that's bad news," De Jong said.