Migration potential of college graduates from rural areas

The paper discusses an important, from the perspective of the development of peripheral areas, problem of migration among youth. The weakness of the potential of disadvantaged areas contributes to the strengthening of disadvantageous demographic, economic or cultural trends which, as a consequence, makes submontane areas of the Malopolska or Podkarpacie regions distant from large urban centers, being doomed to stagnation and becomes a push factor for next generations of their inhabitants. The phenomenon very frequently affects graduates and young people who, in the beginning of their professional careers, encounter considerable barriers on the Polish labor market. The paper analyses a potential scale of internal and external migrations, assesses the importance of factors determining the selection of migration destination and the importance of elements affecting the nature of jobs undertaken, taking into account payroll expectations of potential migrants. Its key element was also a balance of potential benefits and losses resulting from mass labor migration from two perspectives: of migrants and their families, and of consequences of decisions to migrate affecting local communities.