After years of concern about Wisconsin’s brain drain, now there’s evidence of a “boomerang” effect.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that although Wisconsin suffers a slight loss overall of college-educated residents, the drain is mostly among graduates in their 20s. In fact, the state has net gains among college grads in their 30s and 40s.
“That’s a heartening development,” said John Karl Scholz, an economist and co-author of a working paper on the research. “If it continues, that’s clearly a source of strength for the state, because clearly college-educated people in their thirties and forties are likely to be putting deeper roots in the community, and that’s a good thing. The trend is good.”