A Community Conversation: Brain Drain

Originally broadcast Tuesday, June 29, 2010 on WSKG Public Radio

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The decline of manufacturing jobs in the last few decades has led to a steady population loss in New York. Cities also face numerous challenges in attracting young, educated people to the state, and that threatens the long-term sustainability of our region.

Brain drain is the loss of skilled intellectual and technical labor through the movement of such labor to more favorable geographic, economic, or professional environments. While New York has not experienced an unusually high loss of skilled labor, especially compared to other states, the lack of net-migration in upstate New York is among the lowest in the nation. Attracting an educated, skilled workforce is critical to the revival of upstate New York's economy.

Guests on tonight's program include: Richard Deitz, senior economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; David Brown, professor and chair of Development Sociology at Cornell University, co-director of the Community and Regional Development Institute, and an adjunct professor in the Decker School of Nursing at Binghamton University; Scott Sanders, a Ph.D. candidate in Development Sociology at Cornell University; and Kathryn Fletcher, CEO of BiziLife Ventures in Binghamton, and the former director of Binghamton University's CIC2020 program.