New England Public Policy Center Discussion Paper No. 07-3
by Heather Brome

Full-text paper

This paper uses data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 Censuses and the 2005 American Community Survey to examine longer-term trends and to offer a snap-shot of the current young professional population and migration trends. It challenges the conventional wisdom that the region is hemorrhaging young professionals. The supply of young, educated workers in New England is not shrinking, though it is not growing as much as it has in the past or as fast as it is in other parts of the nation. The bottom line to policymakers and others is that demographic trends of young, skilled workers are complex; factors such as educational attainment and international immigration are as important to include in any analysis as domestic migration.