Salzburg attracts EU movers with higher education than the domestic workforce

The battle for talent within the EU is a story about both brain drain and gain. Of the 17 million people aged 15–64 migrating within the EU1, around 4.5 million are highly skilled workers and students. Factors known for attracting these people from their home regions are economic growth, higher wages, robust social security, linguistic and cultural similarity, relatively easier access to the labour market and higher employment rates.2

In contrast, the brain drain phenomenon arises when a region can not compete and suffers a permanent loss of skilled workers or students.

Salzburg is a “receiving” region, with more people moving in than out. In 2017 the net migration rate was 3.9 persons per 1,000 inhabitants.

A positive net migration means that more people are moving in, than out. A negative value means that the region is losing population. Net migration includes, in this case, both domestic and international movement.

Receiving regions generally have considerably higher GDP per capita, whilst sending regions come off below the EU average.3

Sending regions appear to be located in most of Portugal and Greece, in Spain, the north-eastern parts of France, the northern parts of Finland, the Baltic States and in several parts of Eastern Europe.

Receiving regions are generally found in northern areas of the EU, e.g Sweden, Ireland, Estonia, Denmark and the UK.

The battle for the brains

The nature of the migration flows differs considerably across Europe. Some regions attract and gain highly educated workers, while others lose them. In this section we look closer at the education level of the newcomers, compared to the domestic population. Do the migrants4 affect the supply of skilled labour?

These are some of the key findings for Salzburg:

  • Europeans that have moved to Salzburg generally have a higher education level than workers born in Austria (35 percent of EU movers had higher education, compared to 30 percent in the workforce as a whole).
  • Salzburg ranks average in the EU for receiving highly educated migrants. 5
  • In the past ten years the education level among EU migrants in Salzburg has risen slightly (+4 percent points). In Austria the trend is increasing even more.
  • In the same time the education level among the whole workforce in Salzburg has also increased (+15 percent points).
NUTS regions in Austria with the highest and lowest education level of EU migrants
RegionShare of EU migrants that have higher education
1.Wien44%
2.Vorarlberg38%
3.Tyrol38%
4.Kärnten37%
5.Lower Austria36%
6.Burgenland35%
7.Salzburg35%
8.Oberösterreich33%
9.Steiermark32%

Higher employment than domestic workforce

In general, highly educated workers in the EU that have moved to another EU country find employment at more or less the same level as the domestic workforce.

In Salzburg the employment rate for highly educated newcomers is higher than the rate for workers born in Austria (89 percent compared to 86 percent among all educated workers in Salzburg).

regions in Austria with the highest and lowest employment of highly educated EU workers
RegionEmployment level among highly educted EU workers
1.Vorarlberg91%
2.Salzburg89%
3.Oberösterreich84%
4.Lower Austria83%
5.Burgenland83%
6.Tyrol82%
7.Wien78%
8.Kärnten76%
9.Steiermark76%
The unemployment data is from 2018.

What about the future? Reports on the modern knowledge economy say that high skilled immigration will continue to boost economic growth in the attractive regions. Income differentials combined with differences in living standards between regions will remain the primary driver of economic migration. The demand for skilled labour is robust. By 2025 nearly half of all new expected job openings in the EU is expected to target highly qualified workers6.

Definitions

Salzburg in Austria
Salzburg in Austria

In this report brain drain is defined as a region's loss of individuals with high skills and/or competencies (workers/students) due to permanent emigration. Note that we measure the education level of all residents, not just recent migrants.

“Highly educated”, “highly skilled” etc refers to individuals with tertiary education (ISCED11 levels 5–8) aged 15 to 64 years.

1 These numbers are from 2017 and include both domestic and international migration.

2 “Addressing Brain Drain” by European Committee of the Regions, 2018

3 “The Geography of New Employment Dynamics in Europe” by the ESPON project, 2017

4 Here we compare the education level of workers born in another EU country to, the education level of the total workforce of each region.

5 This conclusion is based on a comparison of the education level of EU movers in Salzburg to the education level of EU movers in other NUTS regions in Europe.

6 “The Geography of New Employment Dynamics in Europe”, by EPSON, 2017

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