L’emigrazione dei laureati italiani. Un’analisi delle caratteristiche individuali che favoriscono la mobilità internazionale

Through the integration of data from three waves of the Istat survey on the professional integration of Italian graduates (2007, 2011 and 2015), this paper aims at describing both the individual characteristics of graduates that are associated with a higher propensity to migrate and the intentions of international mobility among graduates who are unemployed three years after graduation. Results show that both the migration and the intention to emigrate are constantly growing in the period considered. Furthermore, there is a strong selection of emigrant graduates based on social origin, academic career and field of study, which tends to further increase over the years. However, although growing, the intentions of moving abroad among those who are not yet employed are more heterogeneous and less selective. The emigration to another country is increasingly seen as a possible choice by young Italian graduates, thanks also to the strengthening of European integration and the spread of an international culture that reduces the psychological costs of mobility.