Where are we heading?

Abstract: The migration patterns of newly graduated students have implications for regional development, as the attraction and retention of high-educated individuals is important for the innovation and productivity of the regional labor market. Moreover, imbalances in the migration flows may create or amplify regional discrepancies. The study focuses on the demographic characteristics of the graduates from Lund University moving to urban, suburban or rural municipalities in Sweden after graduation and what regional factors affect the choice of location. Descriptive statistics are presented to analyze the demographic characteristics and a multivariate regression analysis is performed to analyze to what extent regional factors contribute to the choice of location. The independent variables, i.e., the regional factors, reflect the labor market, geography, economy and quality of life of the municipalities. We found three factors to be especially important for the choice of location for graduates from Lund University: labor market opportunities, proximity to Lund, and like-mindedness of the population in the municipality.