Alaska's 'brain drain': myth or reality? A variety of administrative data are used to determine if the long-term education, employment, and outmigration patterns of Alaska's youth are draining Alaska's labor force, causing 'brain drain'

Monthly Labor Review,  May, 2004  by Jeff Hadland

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Other available data In addition to industry and earnings information, Alaska's unemployment insurance wage record file contains occupation and place of work information for most wage and salary workers in the State. Employers are provided with special occupational coding manuals, based on the Standard Occupational Classification system that assist them in coding each of their worker's jobs. Besides providing information on the progress of workers through a career ladder, the coding manuals allow researchers to compare occupational information by matching an occupation with the typical education level for that occupation and examine earnings by occupation. In addition, occupation data associated with each worker are helpful in determining if workers were employed in an occupation related to their education and training. This information is collectively known as Alaska's Occupational Database. The Wage Record Interchange System could not be used to track the employment outcomes of youth that were employed outside the State because that file can be used only for evaluating the performance of certain federally funded training programs, primarily those associated with the Workforce Investment Act.

Characteristics of Alaska's youth

The study cohort of 16,114 Alaskans age 15-16 in 1994 had significantly more men (52.5 percent) than women (47.5 percent). In fact, the number of men exceeded the number of women in all age groups in Alaska in 1994. Also consistent with the overall population distribution in Alaska, the 1994 Youth population reported their residence as: 37.8 percent in Anchorage, 12.3 percent in Fairbanks, 10.4 percent in Matanuska-Susitna (4), and 8.7 percent in Kenai.

No information is currently available indicating whether the 1994 Youth were Alaskan high school students in 1994 or had graduated from an Alaskan high school in 1994. In 1996 and 1997, the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development reported that there were 12,209 high school graduates from Alaska's school districts, and this group represents a large percentage of the total high school-graduation-age population for those years. (The statewide dropout rate for grades 7-12 ranged from 3.4 percent to 4.1 percent from 1996 to 1998.)

For purposes of comparison, a second group of Alaskan youth age 17-18 in 2000 was selected and matched with administrative data. This group of recent high-school-graduation-age youth was examined to determine their employment and postsecondary education outcomes shortly after their high school years.

Residency and outmigration

Older youth and young adults typically have the highest migration rates of any other population group. These individuals are at a crossroads of their lives when they are either continuing their education or considering a serious job or career. To achieve these goals, many young persons consider moving to another location. Although the majority of Alaska's 1994 Youth study group chose to continue their work or education close to home, many others chose to leave Alaska to pursue their long-term goals.