Nearly half of all graduates in the underdeveloped southern half of Italy are forced to move north in order to find work, a report said on Tuesday.
The study, carried out by southern development agency Svimez, found that 40% of university graduates who managed to find work within three years of gaining their degrees did so by migrating north.
The figure rose to 50% when it came to science graduates, the report noted.
But Svimez found that transferred southerners were often given less advantageous contracts than their peers who had managed to find jobs without moving.
It said 60% of southern graduates who moved were still on temporary job contracts three years after leaving university, compared to 40% of those who stayed put.
The report also said many graduates who remained in the south, where unemployment is pushing 24% in many areas, were still forced to rely on contacts for finding a job.
It said one in four found employment through "informal channels" such as family, friends and acquaintances.
Only 22.2% found jobs by sending off their CVs to businesses while the job centre paid off for only 1.7%.
Newspaper advertisements were successful for 8% of working graduates while 15% were awarded their jobs after winning competitive examinations.
