The common mantra (even used in this column from time to time) is that there is a massive “brain drain” of our “best and brightest” from Central New York outward to bigger cities and to the South and West. The perception is that these young people, who in previous generations gave stability to the region, are lost, that their brain power, capital and potential productivity and volunteerism are sucked away.

The big question for most communities, like ours, is whether this is true and if so, how do you stem the tide? According to Roger Evans, a principal economist with the New York State Labor Department, there is a bigger picture, which clearly shows that the so called “brain drain” is only a small piece of a greater landscape.

According to the economist, who spoke last month at the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce's annual economic forecast luncheon, there is a shift outward of young people from this region to other parts of the country. But as with any trend, that is only half the story - New York and specifically Central New York are no different when it comes to such youthful outward migration than any other region in the nation. That's right, the South and West also suffer from a “brain drain.”

But there is a big difference between those two regions and that of the Northeast. Picture the situation as a triangle - while there is migration to these other areas and back and forth between the two - those who leave the Northeast don't come back, but stay in the other two regions. The end result is that while the best and the brightest of the South may migrate West and vice versa, those who leave the Rustbelt are neither returning nor seeing people from the South and West come here, with those rare exceptions of larger metropolitan areas such as Boston, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia.

So the bottom line is that we visibly see those young people leave, as our population ages and results in a lower available workforce. From almost all perspectives this is a negative (an exception being those workers who know that they have a skill that is a valuable and can market themselves payroll wise accordingly) and the local business community, educators and government need to work together to stem the tide.

We need to recognize those who do stay (they can create jobs, opportunities and wealth) as a vital commodity. Continually chanting that we have lost our “best and brightest” is a slap to those who have stayed and are clearly this community's future.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com