Posted on 01/27/2007 2:15:06 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
BOSTON — Young adults are earning their college degrees in Massachusetts and leaving the state, taking their eager work ethic, vitality and young families with them, according to a new study.
The entire Massachusetts population has dwindled over the past 14 years, but young adults between the ages of 25 and 34 are disappearing the fastest, according to a study out of the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
And they are not just leaving the Bay State. All six New England states rank in the top 10 in the country when it comes to losing members of Generation Y.
"It really affects the economic and social character of the region. Businesses that are growing fast, such as technology fields, need the energy of entry-level workers, and if there's a decline in this group, they may look to settle elsewhere," Ross Gittell, author of the study, said.
Most counties lose youth
Each of the 67 counties across New England has lost young adults since 1990 except Nantucket, Gittell found. Berkshire County lost 34 percent, Worcester County lost 20 percent, and Windham County in Vermont lost a whopping 41 percent.
The loss not only threatens the state politically in terms of congressional representation, but also has more subtle implications, said Sen. Steven Panagiotakos, D-Lowell.
"We have a very aging population, and we have one of the best benefits systems, but you need those young entrepreneurial working-class people to support that system. Losing people in the 25 to 34 age group hurts us today, but it hurts us even more ten years from now when those people would be getting into the prime of their business careers," Panagiotakos said.
Although several universities in the state attract young adults, Massachusetts is unable to keep them, leading to a "brain drain," of skilled workers. "Our greatest resource is our highly skilled work force. If that erodes, we will lose our competitive edge," he said.
Massachusetts could lose up to 40 percent of their young workers who have bachelor's degrees by 2020, according to a study by the Nellie Mae Foundation.
Once those young workers are gone, it gets harder to attract investors and expand businesses, and the area begins to be "branded as old and cold," said John Schneider, interim president at MassInc, a public policy think tank. Communities also are losing out on the innovations and tolerance that younger generations bring into a community, he added.
"Younger people bring new ideas and new ways of thinking about things and more diversity, and we lose that element. It's not just work force, but also to the contributions young people make to civic and cultural community," Schneider said.
State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox, hopes to work with Gov. Deval L. Patrick to entice young adults to stay here, explaining that a creative job market might keep them.
"We need to revitalize the economy in Massachusetts region by region. The market here in the Berkshires is very different from the market in Boston," Pignatelli said.
I have two nieces who just graduated from college.One with a Masters at 23 years old and one with a bachelors at 20 years old.The oldest is heading for North Carolina,and the youngest is heading for Alaska.They are leaving before their car is!!They already have jobs that pay twice what NY had to offer,and their taxes are half of what they would pay there.Bless them.They are not into politics as such,but they know to get while the gettin's good!My first thought about visiting NY was I had to leave my guns home for starters.NAH!Then the thought of being stopped with out of state plates for their revenue growth did not appeal to me.I could go on,but I think you get the drift.I do not plan on leaving Texas except in a urn.
Hate to say it but the South isn't really the South anymore, not as I'm hearing it from all my kinfolk down there. North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia are going the way of California as far as natives these days. Soon, they'll have license plates for that state too that says "native North Carolinian" and so on.
Your nieces did what all smart ambitious kids are doing in NY: Exit at the nearest border.
That is very encouraging. I hope they are leaving because:
1. They have noticed how much of their paycheck disappears down the government toilet, and
2. They are having children and they do not want to expose them to a government school system that has been hijacked by the sodomy lobby. I suppose when the kids sit around the dinner table and start talking about the "fisting" lecture they got in health class, parents get a tad upsettled. Even Massachusetts parents.
Of course, we can only hope that these young adults are not taking their parents' Democrat voting habits with them to foul other states....
I made my decision in the middle of a snow storm shoveling cow manure out of a broken spreader.Working seven days a week rising at four in the morning and working till late at night,I could not get the news out of my mind.The farmer I worked for last, had the news on whenever we ate.I got sick and tired of hearing about the death toll and such,I figured,what the hell,it can't be any worse than what I am doing now.I enlisted in the Infantry at 17,and my mother did not find out till I had passed boot camp.She tried her best to get me out,but I had a Top SGT.who made it go away.I would have done anything to get out of there.[I did!]The blue states are such a waste of beautiful country.Truly a shame.Only thing left is old money and a government job.
They run from PA also. Liberal states have little work.
Well God bless your spirit! Sounds like you made your move during the Blizzard of 77. Or was that 78 or 86? You know what I mean. Oh Ok you left in 72.
I have seen the changes over the last 20-30 years. Where once the average person was somewhat prosperous and thriving now people look like they did in Appalachia in the 1930s. They really do. Very depressing.
They want to spread it to people around the country who aren't as enlightened as they are.
and frankly, we're glad to have you ....
I imagine if it were put to a vote the Virginians living south of that group of "fine folk" in Arlington, Prince William, and Fairfax Counties, plus Alexandria, would vote overwhelmingly to have them become the State of Northern Virginia. They are not pleased with the delegates with leftist viewpoints they send down to Richmond.
Ahhh those apple trees. They are everywhere in the southern tier...just growing blooming but no one to take care of them.
You see either very poor...lots, or a few wealthier...who have govt (taxpayer funded) jobs mostly ---state cops, teachers, and the like. Small business? Gone just disappeared.
I hope they don't come to Texas and vote Democrat to raise our taxes.
NY state is ruled by extreme left winers who enjoy bashing those who are trying to reform.
It truly is hopeless mainly because most of the reform minded people have left. It is a state of disgrace with unions, lobbies, and their liberal buddies pushing an socialist agenda. Seniors voting to maintain what little they have and unionists blue collar voting to keep the few jobs they have and white collar government workers the biggest bloc of all.
We will exit soon...the sooner the better.
Golly
South Carolina is a pretty place, though. Did you choose coastal or mountain?
The same thing is happening in MA as CA..tax payers are leaving and parasites are arriving..legal and illegal.
Eventually, then only way they will be able to afford to exist is to get more federal money. (that means us).
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