Del éxodo rural al éxodo interurbano de titulados universitarios: la segunda oleada de despoblación

Abstract

 The interregional imbalances result in the out-migration of human capital in some territories and its concentration in a few Spanish global cities. The aim of this paper is to analyse net-migration of the Spanish youth by educational attainment and the urban-rural dimension at the NUTS 2 geographic level. In order to do so, microdata from the register of population movements and the Spanish Labour Force Survey between 1992 and 2018 are used. The results reveal that net-migration rates are more unbalanced over time. In addition, one of the main demographic components which causes depopulation, the exodus of young populations, is currently mostly affecting urban areas of inland and northern regions instead of rural municipalities. The youth born in these areas, mainly the highly educated, are more likely to emigrate towards the global cities, namely since the 2008 financial crisis. The departure of qualified young populations is not compensated for by the arrival of immigrants, both in quantity and in regards to the level of education of such immigrants. This situation enhances processes of educational decapitalization. Most of the highly educated youth migrants move to the global city of Madrid, where boosting dynamics of qualified human capital accumulation have been identified.