Shifts in graduate mobility between Chinese cities during COVID-19: evidence from mobile phone data

Lu Hao, Frank van der Wouden, Yueqi Zhang, Xuyang Wang and Peng Gong

Regional Studies, 2025, vol. 59, issue 1, 2564849

Abstract: This study analyses how graduate mobility between Chinese cities changed before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using mobile phone signalling data on more than one million graduates from nine cities, we estimate gravity models to explain graduate flows between 297 cities from 2019 to 2021. We find that geographical distance, prior population flows and service-sector employment consistently influenced mobility. During the pandemic, technological collaboration networks became more important, while traditional economic indicators weakened. Lockdown policies had no significant impact. These results emphasise the importance of networks in graduate mobility and suggest that service-oriented cities are more attractive in times of uncertainty.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2025.2564849

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