The reality is that most cheap talent (i.e. early career engineers) want to live or work in major cities because there's things to do and the quality of life is

The reality is that most cheap talent (i.e. early career engineers) want to live or work in major cities because there's things to do and the quality of life is simply unbeatable compared to living in even an average suburb of a major city let alone in the middle of nowhere. On top of that, it's much easier to attract top talent from other countries to cities with at least workable mass transit systems. In moving to Chicago from a large town, my quality of life easily doubled overnight. Grocery shopping is now only an extra 3 minutes out of my way on the way home from the train station instead of an extra 25 minutes out of my way. I don't need to maintain two cars for my wife and I because honestly, we barely drive because there is no need. I'm starting to consider just getting rid of my car entirely. If I want to go and see Broadway plays, I no longer have to travel over an hour by car, hunt for parking, and then walk 5-10 more minutes. If I want to eat out, there's over 100 restaurants just in my ward. It's just a better life overall.