Graduates and migration in France: between urban labour-market attraction and interest in amenities

As in all developed countries, educated French people are concentrated in dense local labour markets. The chapter analyses migration flows using the declarations in the census on previous residential location (five years before) of people aged over five in 2008. It focuses on two populations: 20–64-year-olds to analyse the core of the French active population and 20–29-years-olds to capture youth specificities, distinguishing people with high and low levels of education. The chapter estimates extended gravity models to explain the origin–destination flows of the active population between 288 local labour markets using a zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) model. They provide a picture of the main links between middle- and long-distance flows and local characteristics that play a role in the professional and residential dimensions of migration choices. Migration flows of young educated people are essentially linked with the characteristics of local labour markets, rather than climates and amenities. Amenity variables, in particular climate conditions, also affect migration flows, especially flows of older people. The characteristics of the destination area impact flows of educated people more than flows of less-educated people.