Iowa experienced a net loss of more than 10,000 college graduates to other states in the late 1990s, according to a new study conducted by Iowa State University. The data quantifies the so-called brain-drain problem that state officials and the business community have grappled with for years.

According to the study, which sampled census data for adults 25 and older for the period 1995 to 2000, the state also had a net gain of more than 16,000 people with fewer than four years of college.

“The pattern in Iowa has been that we educate the heck out of folks and then they leave,” said Dave Swenson, a regional scientist with the economics department at ISU.

The largest shifts by industry included a net loss of more than 20,000 jobs in the professional, scientific and management sector. The largest net gain came in the manufacturing sector, with about 11,500 more people in that field entering the state than leaving.

However, more recent statistics indicate that an increasing percentage of graduates are staying in the state, at least among ISU alumni.

Both the state of Iowa and the Greater Des Moines Partnership point to success with recruitment programs aimed at connecting expatriated Iowans with positions at Iowa companies.

Scholarships and internships are also good ways to forge ties with students before graduation, say college representatives. What’s not clear is the influence these type of recruitment efforts are having in graduates’ choices of where to live and work.

Among ISU’s 2002 graduates, 53 percent stayed in the state, while 36 percent moved elsewhere. In comparison, when 2001 graduates were similarly surveyed six months after graduation, 51 percent had found jobs in the state, compared with 39 percent outside the state. About 10 percent in each class were unaccounted for.

Looking at ISU’s colleges of business and liberal arts and sciences, the percentage of 2002 graduates staying in the state was higher than for the university overall, with 58 percent finding positions within their specialty. That number has steadily increased since 1998, when just 44 percent of ISU business and liberal arts graduates stayed in the state.

“The whole brain-drain concept is really not one that we’ve felt our colleges bear out,” said Kathy Wieland, director of business career services at ISU’s college of business. The strong economy in the late 1990s probably had a lot to do with the lower retention rate, she said.

“I would certainly hope that some of our efforts to retain students here at the state level have been effective,” she said.

Among the recruitment efforts is the Iowa Human Resource Recruitment Consortium. Since its formation in 1998, the public-private partnership has attracted more than 1,200 former Iowans back to the state through a marketing program that includes direct mail, career fairs and special events in major cities.

A resume service hosted by the Greater Des Moines Partnership on its Web site has resulted in 530 relocations to the Des Moines metropolitan area so far this year, said Susan Ramsey, the Partnership’s spokeswoman. Since the program began in January 2000, nearly 600 employers have used the service, with more than 1,300 confirmed relocations.

From a business perspective, companies are looking for quality candidates, regardless of whether they’re from Iowa.

“Generally the more high-level skills you’re looking for, the harder it is to find that person,” said Brian Bowman, sourcing and diversity recruitment consultant with Principal Financial Group Inc. “I would say that’s true outside of Iowa as well. Mid-level managers, someone with an investment background within the state of Iowa,can be difficult to find.”

In the information technology field, the demand is increasingly for highly experienced Web specialists, said Sally Blanton, an executive recruiter with Midwest Search Group LLC.

“Some of the specialized skills are those employers may have to look outside the state to find,” she said. “But I think Des Moines has enough to offer that we can attract those people to come here.”

Though Iowa is trying to attract businesses that provide top technology jobs, it’s ending up with a lot of the lower-paying information processing jobs, ISU’s Swenson said.

“I’m of the opinion that the state is spending way too much money in direct business incentives, and not doing enough to educate the existing workforce,” he said. “That’s the gold mine for the next generation of the economy. I think (state officials have) made the choice to chase after industry aggressively and hope that the workforce will keep up.”

  ACCOUNTING REMAINS A HOT FIELD

How well did last year’s crop of graduates do in finding jobs? At the Iowa State University College of Business, 83 percent found positions in their field within six months of graduation. Of the liberal arts graduates, 85 percent were professionally employed. That compares favorably with ISU’s best year for placement, 1998, when the placement rate among business graduates was 93 percent.

There are indications this will be a good year for finding jobs.

“For the first time in four years, we’re seeing company recruiters in the hundreds,” said Kathy Wieland, a career services director at ISU. “These are companies that are actually interviewing on campus for open positions, not just taking resumes. We’ve also had a major uptick in internships, which is a good leading indicator.”

Accounting graduates, who averaged starting salaries of $39,000, were the most heavily recruited specialty last year and remain so this year, Wieland said. “We could have put more people out in accounting,” she said.   Additionally, “manufacturing has been very, very solid,” she said. “We’re having very good placement in production operations management and transportation and logistics.” Those graduates are averaging $40,000 to start.