Few people will argue this area could do better at keeping our best and brightest from bolting as soon as they have their sheepskins, and it's hard to blame college graduates for doing so. After all, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area held the notorious distinction of highest unemployment rate among Pennsylvania's 14 largest labor markets for more than four years.

And many jobs here don't require college degrees. A Times Leader review of state labor data last month found the five fastest-growing occupations in Luzerne County are expected to be cashier, retail salesperson, waiter/waitress, registered nurse and food preparer.A look at the state's "High Priority Occupations" list for Luzerne County was equally discouraging. Of 2,202 projected annual openings in those jobs considered higher skill and paying sustainable wages 64 percent required no more than a high school degree, seeking on-the-job training instead.With grim data like that, the article on The Times Leader's front page Sunday offered a genuine silver lining. A snapshot look at 12 students and graduates from the region showed that one already had found work in Wilkes-Barre while four others definitely intend to stay in the area.Even among the remaining seven, the notion of staying at least for a while or returning after making a success of it elsewhere was generally palatable.Those results jibe with data provided by King's College from its 2013 alumni survey, which showed about one-third of local graduates found work in Luzerne, Lackawanna or Wyoming counties.It's far from perfect. Ideally, we would not only be creating jobs and an environment that enticed graduates to stay, we'd be luring graduates away from other areas. But it shows our region has some strong draws, a good base to build on if we want to shrink our "brain drain."What are those draws? Long-term residents probably have an idea. We tend to generate a sense of place, family and duty here. Consider Cemah Tudae-Torboh, a King's College graduate going to work for an area firm as an information technology manager.Torboh conceded there's good reason to head out and "shoot for the stars," but decided to stay here because, at least for him, "It's just a smart choice to sit in one spot and pay your dues."Or consider Robert Griffith, a sophomore at The Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton: "I really, truly believe in this area, and I want to give back to it in any way that I can."Then there's Jodie Fortwangler who, at 27, became a licensed practical nurse through the Hazleton Area Career Center. "My family is here," Fortwangler said. "I'm pretty confident it'll be okay around here."There are good reasons to work and live here. And we do have some reasons for college graduates to stay, though not enough. What can we do?It's a complex mix of things, to be sure, with no sure-fire formula. Cleaning abandoned coal land for a better appearance, eliminating a deeply ingrained sense of "it's who you know" brought repeatedly to the surface through our many corruption scandals, and shedding an image, deserved or not, that this is the place you move a company to when you need low-wage employees all could help.Andrew Chew, a research analyst at The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development, which maintains offices in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, offered another idea businesses that already are here could consider if they haven't already embraced it: Adapt to the new expectations of flextime, nontraditional benefits and working remotely."If our business community, if our elected officials can promote those things in our communities," said Chew, "it's going to be a lot a more of an attractive place for young people to stay and begin their careers."