ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

The brain drain issue in non-Capital regions has been widely recognized and studied as critical social problems of our society. Although past research, mainly focusing on the outward migration of college graduates in specific non-Capital regions, has contributed to understanding micro mechanisms affecting an individual graduate’s mobility decision, little attention has been paid to macro patterns and structure of inter-regional mobility of college graduates. Using the log-linear models, the paper directly tackles this issue. On the basis of theoretical considerations of three factors, social distance (yeon-go), opportunity distribution, and geographic distance, I introduce three generic models of regional mobility (retention model, unipolar model, and short-distance mobility model) and several sub-models, accordingly. Log-linear analyses reveal that the combination of size-differential retention model, distance-size-differential unipolar model, and asymmetric short-distance mobility model fits best to describe regional mobility structure of college graduates. Specifically, first, settlement effects are strongest in Capital regions and weakest in non-Capital and non-metropolitan regions. Second, Capital-neighboring regions are most vulnerable to Capital region’s pulling power and non-Capital metropolitan regions are the next, Third, while college graduates tend to move to near regions, mobility rates from metropolitan to non-metropolitan regions are 2.5 times stronger than the other way around, meaning that metropolitan regions function as an important talent distributor in broader economic zone. Finally, pre-college residence makes a big difference in mobility patterns; while college graduates originally from Capital region tend to return to Capital region, those originally from non-Capital regions are highly likely to settle down in the same non-Capital region or near around. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed and some potential research themes are suggested.

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