This year’s edition of the Polish Graduate Tracking System (ELA) features additional comprehensive data on domestic migration of graduates and their professional activity based on the region of graduation and current residence. This data serves not only as a valuable source of information for prospective students, but also as a strategic tool for local authorities seeking to better understand youth mobility and to plan effective regional policies.
Exploring graduate migration: ELA’s new perspective
The new data category is demonstrated through the example of the graduates who completed second-cycle and long-cycle programmes in 2023. The analysis pertains to their regional mobility and economic activity during the first year following graduation. Data covering all study cycles is also available in ELA for the 2019–2022 cohorts.
The migration mechanisms are presented using three indicators, calculated separately for each province in Poland. The first indicator measures the percentage of graduates who left the province in which they had studied.
Figure 1. The percentage of second-cycle and long-cycle programme graduates in 2023 who left the province in which they had studied.
Source: ELA data
Figure 1 depicts significant differences between provinces. The graduates form the Warmińsko-Mazurskie province were the most mobile, relocating nearly three times as often as their counterparts from Podkarpackie (43.9% compared to 15.3%). Dolnośląskie recorded the second-highest graduate relocation rate at 36.2%.
The two remaining indicators examine migration from an economic perspective.
One of them compares nominal earnings of graduates who left the province where they had studied with those who stayed in the province. The other indicator describes the relative economic situation of graduates who relocated and those who stayed in the province in which they had studied. This indicator highlights how the Relative Earnings Rate (RER) differs between both groups of graduates.
Figure 2. Differences in the earnings (the median of nominal gross earnings in PLN) of second-cycle and long-cycle programme graduates in 2023 who relocated from and who stayed in the province in which they had studied.
Source: ELA data
According to ELA, graduates from Śląskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie recorded the largest increase in nominal earnings after relocating, whereas graduates from Dolnośląskie experienced the largest decrease in nominal earnings after relocating. Graduate mobility had little to no impact on graduate earnings in Zachodniopomorskie and Podkarpackie. It is important to note, however, that the same earnings across regions with varying economic conditions indicate differing standings in local labor markets.
Figure 3. Differences in the Relative Earnings Rate values (the RER medians) of second-cycle and long-cycle programme graduates in 2023 who relocated from and who stayed in the province in which they had studied.
Source: ELA data
Figure 3 shows that regional differences in the economic standing of migrating vs. non-migrating graduates are considerable.
Śląskie recorded the highest positive balance (+0.22), indicating that graduates who left this province earned 22% more than the local average earnings during the first year following their graduation compared to those who stayed in Śląskie. Most neutral results were observed in Zachodniopomorskie (+0.01), while negative values were recorded in Podkarpackie, Lubelskie, and Opolskie (all at -0.03).
The Relative Earnings Rate shows an even stronger correlation—compared to nominal earnings—between the migration balance and graduates’ willingness to migrate. The correlation coefficient of 0.28 was twice as high as in the case of nominal earnings. This suggests that migration is driven more by career opportunities than by salary alone.
Three provinces, three graduate migration mechanisms
Graduates from Warmińsko-Mazurskie were the most inclined to leave their home region after graduation. They were strongly incentivised by higher balances of nominal earnings and a stronger economic standing compared to those who decided to stay in the province.
A different pattern emerged in Dolnośląskie. Despite a similarly large share of migrating graduates, those who stayed earned more. According to Statistics Poland, Dolnośląskie stands out as one of the highest-earning provinces in Poland, both for graduates and other employees. Interestingly, even with lower earnings, graduates who left Dolnośląskie attained a more favourable economic standing compared to those who decided not to leave the province. This suggests that the pursuit of better job opportunities outweighed the importance of salary.
Even with the lowest earnings in Poland, both for graduates and other employees, Podkarpackie recorded the smallest share of graduates choosing to relocate. Those who moved from Podkarpackie after graduation had comparable earnings to those who stayed, but their financial standing was slightly worse when adjusting for local wages and living costs. This suggests that graduates from Podkarpackie had little economic motivation to leave the region.
Beyond the paycheck: what else drives graduates’ choices?
The latest ELA data is an important source of information about graduates’ mobility and the economic aspects of their decisions. While there is a positive link between the tendency to migrate and the financial benefits of moving, the correlation is not particularly strong. This indicates that non-economic factors, such as social ties, cost of living, or job environment, could significantly influence post-graduation relocation decisions; however, confirming this hypothesis would necessitate separate research relying on different data sets.