By Sarah Dickins wales@work

More than 80% of Welsh graduates work below their skill level

One in five children in Wales will leave the country to find work - and those who move away are likely to become better qualified and better paid than their peers left in Wales, according to official figures.

The Labour Force Survey found that 38% of Welsh men living outside Wales had a degree compared with 10% who had stayed in Wales.

Of Welsh-born women, 49% living outside Wales are in managerial or professional jobs, compared with 22% living in Wales.

The figures, based on the latest Census, underline the challenge for the Welsh Assembly Government if it is to achieve its dream of Wales becoming a so-called "knowledge economy".

A recent survey from Cardiff University suggests that young Welsh people who go to England to study are less likely to return to work in Wales.

In contrast, those who stay and attend university in Wales and then take jobs elsewhere are more likely to return later on.

Lesser jobs

Professor Phil Cooke at Cardiff University's Centre for Advanced Policy Studies says research by his department shows half the graduates from universities in Wales stay in the country.

Of those, 82% end up working below their skill level in lesser jobs than those for which they are qualified.

Simon Gibson, of the Welsh venture capital company Wesley Clover, argues the brain drain is not a problem for Wales so long as steps are taken to maintain links so that Welsh people who move away can be tempted back.

In contrast to Wales, Ireland has seen an influx of skilled people returning, bringing its population back to four million people for the first time for more than a century.

Training bodies in Dublin have been successful in tracking down Irish graduates with global experience working across the world and encouraging them back to Ireland.

That in turn has helped Ireland attract high-skilled international companies.

wales@work with Sarah Dickins is broadcast on Tuesday at 1800GMT and is repeated on Sunday at 1905GMT on BBC Radio Wales, 93-96 and 104 FM/882 and 657 MW.