Northern cities and urban–rural migration of university‐qualified labour in Australia and Sweden: Spillovers, sponges, or disconnected city–hinterland geographies?

Abstract

This article examines the migration flows of university-qualified labour (UQL) between cities and hinterland regions in the sparsely populated north of both Australia and Sweden. These peripheries have become increasingly urbanised in recent decades and have received substantial investment in urban higher education hubs that are expected to generate skills for their regions. Whether these skills remain within the few urban centres or are redistributed internally to benefit rural and remote locations is not known. The article identifies the extent to which there have been urban-rural 'spillover' or 'sponge' effects in UQL migration flows within the north and establishes whether there has been a 'disconnect' in the regional exchange of UQL. Drawing on recent Australian census and Swedish register data, the results suggest that 'spillover' and 'sponging' of UQL have been limited, particularly in Northern Australia where cities appeared quite disconnected from their hinterlands. Spillover was more common in Northern Sweden, but cities with universities targeting regional skill needs did not necessarily generate more net-migration gains for their hinterland. The discussion illustrates why urban-rural human capital relationships in northern peripheries may be more diverse and complex than assumed and flags what policy lessons can be drawn from comparing different northern peripheries.

Spillover, sponge or something else? Dismantling expectations for rural development resulting from giga-investments in Northern Sweden

“…Recent work has rediscovered the metaphors of spillover versus sponge (or spread vs. backwash) effects to examine the flows of labour, capital and skills between northern growth centres (typically situated in urban hubs) and the more rural and sparsely populated remainder of their regions (Carson et al 2021). Although contested, the idea of the centre as a sponge (Argent et al 2008) suggests that the few urban growth hotspots will increase urbanization and polarization within the northern region and 'suck in' more people, labour and human capital from the rural and sparsely populated areas.…”

“…Both distance and functional ties are problematic when discussing regional development in northern peripheries due to their internal disconnectedness (Carson et al 2021). According to this idea, settlements within the region have often evolved independently from one another and do not necessarily share the same labour markets, mobility corridors, and networks for access to markets, services and recreation.…”

“…More importantly, local growth hotspots tend to be oriented towards external (rather than regional) sources of capital, with a common reliance on temporary external workers who are attracted to a particular project and location, and do not necessarily circulate within the region once those projects are complete (Halseth 1999;. A mismatch between specialised skills and labour attracted to those growth hotspots, and general demands for skilled labour in the region can, thus, hamper the potential for regional spillover (Carson et al 2021). Even spillover into nearby rural areas through the spread of commuter villages may be quite restricted in the North due to limited transport connections and the combined issues of distance, cost and time prohibiting daily commuting.…”

“…Findings from these studies suggest highly localised and 'self-contained' growth hotspots and generally little evidence of any significant regional spillover in terms of labour, migration or economic linkages. Likewise, since most of the workforce for these projects is sourced from outside, the role of these growth centres as regional sponges may be much smaller than generally assumed (see Argent et al 2008;Bjarnason et al 2021;Carson et al 2021).…”

Spatial Interactions and the Commercialisation of Academic Patents: The Chinese Experience

“…As a place where new knowledge is exported, the innovation activities of colleges and universities will have obvious spillover effects (Carson et al, 2021; Petruzzelli & Murgia, 2020). Previous studies have shown that there is a spatial proximity effect when colleges and universities carry out knowledge spillovers into the industry (Audretsch et al, 2004; Varga, 2006).…”