Welsh "Brain Drain" will continue to make us Poor West Britons.

Q: What do you say to a recent Welsh University Graduate. 

A: I'll have Fries with that.

Not very funny when you read that  among Welsh graduates who went to university in Wales and stayed for work, 40.6% are in non-graduate jobs, the report by the Resolution Foundation think-tank said.

Prof Sir Deian - a former vice-chancellor of London South Bank University - told BBC Radio Cymru's Post Cyntaf programme that graduate jobs had been lost in the public sector, but had not been created at the same rate in the private sector.

"This is a difficult circle to close, because the government should invest more and more in creating jobs that will attract and keep graduates in Wales," he said.
"But if employers are not investing at the same time there's a restriction on government - they can't do that much."

 Conservative shadow education secretary Darren Millar said: 

"It should come as no surprise that Wales is experiencing a brain drain when the Welsh Labour Government is failing to deliver the dynamic modern economy that we need."

UKIP said it would scrap tuition fees for science and technology courses at university.

Plaid Cymru would offer graduates £6,000 a year to help pay off debts if they stay or return to Wales after university.

The Welsh Government said it remained committed to making the investment Wales needs, and would develop opportunities for young people.

"We recognise that offering incentives for graduates to remain in, or return to, Wales could be part of this," a spokesman said, adding it was taking action including a new commitment for those who receive nursing bursaries to work in the Welsh NHS.

This becomes more concerning  when we here that  "A quarter of Welsh constituencies have less than 25% of 18 year-olds going to university."

According the the Wasting Mule  erious concern has been expressed over the low level of university applications from school leavers in many parts of Wales.

Official figures compiled by the admissions body Ucas show that while the constituency with the highest proportion of 18 year-olds applying to university was Cardiff , with 47%, the lowest was Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney with just 19.3%.

A further nine constituencies – Swansea West, Torfaen, Swansea East, Blaenau Gwent, Islwyn, Neath, Aberavon, Rhondda and Clwyd South – have less than 25% of their 18 year-olds submitting applications.

Plaid Cymru Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills Llyr Gruffydd said: 

“The gap in application rates within Wales reveals a fundamental problem. Large areas of post-industrial Wales are being under-represented in university applications, even in parts of the country where universities are located like Swansea and the Valleys. Applications from these areas are falling in Wales while rising in England and Northern Ireland.
“The Welsh Government knows about the link between poverty and low educational attainment and these figures confirm the problem still exists. In more deprived areas, fewer young people make it to university. We need to break that cycle and we do that by focusing on early intervention, investing in good quality childcare from a very early age, and targeting young people when they begin to fall behind.
“It is true that not everyone has to go to university. But Plaid Cymru has a serious concern about inequality within Wales and the impact that has on educational attainment. It is fair to ask the Labour-led Government here, what they are doing to do about it.”

I suppose  you could argue that its just as well because there are no graduate type jobs for these young people when they finish University anyway,

But it is a worrying trend that we are loosing so many of best young people

Wales attracted 23,807 graduates between 2013 and 2016, but 44,335 left - a difference of 20,528.

The only areas where this difference was greater, was Yorkshire and Humber (23,115) and the north-east of England (22,543).

It reflects the "Poor West Britons" nature of our relationship with the Union that we can't provide the top jobs for our some of our brightest and 40.6% may be wondering why they bothered going to and amassed  a huge debt.

Unless we take control of our future this story will continue and we will see a Brain Drain away from Wales which will see a future of a high unemployment,low pay, low expectations economy.