ECO: Knoxville’s ‘brain drain’ is worse than it appears
The ECO Report is released quarterly by the Knoxville Chamber as an economic outlook for the city and county.
For the last few years, City of Knoxville leadership has expressed concern about Knoxville’s lack of growth in the 25 – 54-year-old demographic. This key demographic is largely responsible for a community’s economic fortunes.
As reported in the Knoxville Chmaber’s ECO Report, new data from Hire A Helper using the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) of the Current Population Survey shows that the region’s “brain drain” is worse than it appears.
According to the analysis, the Knoxville area in 2023 had an 8 percent net loss in the number of college-educated people moving into the community. In other words, more residents with a college degree left Knoxville than moved to the area.
Equally concerning is the fact that the state of Tennessee, as a whole, had a net loss of 16 percent. These losses are harder to fathom when you consider that the Nashville MSA had a net gain of 97 percent, the second highest in the country, which means that while Nashville essentially had twice as many college-educated people move into the area than it had moved out, those substantial numbers were unable to make up for the rest of the state’s losses.
For Knoxville, in particular, these results further emphasize the need to align the types of graduates our educational institutions are producing and the types of jobs we are creating.
The Knoxville Chmaber’s economic strategic direction unveiled earlier this year, entitled The 2030 Protocol, is designed to address this alignment goal. It is focused on ensuring that graduates have the skills and degrees that local companies need and that businesses are generating the jobs that are sought after by college graduates.
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