From Domicile to University to Work: The Sequential Migration of Young Educated People in the Context of the “Battle for Talent” in China

Qiang Wang, Can Cui (), Chengyuan Yu and Yifan Wang
Additional contact information
Qiang Wang: East China Normal University
Can Cui: East China Normal University
Chengyuan Yu: East China Normal University
Yifan Wang: East China Normal University

Population Research and Policy Review, 2023, vol. 42, issue 6, No 9, 26 pages

Abstract: Abstract As the core driving force of technological innovation and economic development, talent is considered a scarce resource that cities and nations compete for. Facing the pressure of transitioning to high-quality development, many Chinese cities have launched various policies to retain and attract talent since 2017. Talents are comparatively more mobile flowing between regions. Educated talents, who have attended higher education, first move from domicile to university, and then move from university to work after graduation; it is a dynamic process and should be analyzed as a continuum. However, most of the existing studies analyze these two stages separately, namely, student migration and university graduate migration. This study, using the Graduate Employment Quality Report released by 12 universities in Shanghai and questionnaires collected in Shanghai, explored the spatial patterns and driving factors of the two-stage migration of graduates employing a bivariate probit model. The results showed that graduates’ place of origin is relatively diverse and geographically determined by the quota-allocation system of China’s higher-education system, while upon graduation, the majority of them stayed in Shanghai and the surrounding provinces for employment. Path dependence is revealed between domicile-to-university migration and university-to-work migration, and both of them are significantly affected by graduates’ human capital, family background, as well as city-level attributes. Among talent policies, hukou-related policies play an important role in affecting graduates’ choice of place of employment. This study contributes to the understanding of the sequential migration of human capital in a specific institutional setting, thereby providing policy implications to optimize the allocation of talents between regions.

Keywords: Talent; University graduates; Sequential migration; Domicile to university migration; University to work migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11113-023-09838-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:42:y:2023:i:6:d:10.1007_s11113-023-09838-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... es/journal/11113/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s11113-023-09838-3

Access Statistics for this article

Population Research and Policy Review is currently edited by D.A. Swanson

More articles in Population Research and Policy Review from Springer, Southern Demographic Association (SDA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().