The challenges faced by the government in tackling the economic dominance of the south of England has been illustrated by a report showing that London is attracting a disproportionate share of graduates.

Ahead of Philip Hammond’s first autumn statement this week, the report by thinktank Centre for Cities, published on Monday, found that one in four recent university leavers chose to work in the capital, a brain drain harming the prospects of other cities by depriving them of the skills they need, as the economy shifts towards knowledge-intensive activities.Alexandra Jones, the chief executive of Centre for Cities, said: “The government will not achieve its vision of extending prosperity and growth across the country unless it takes steps to help more cities attract and retain the UK’s top talent.”

The report, titled The Great British Brain Drain: Where Graduates Move and Why, used data on university leavers and the jobs market to map where graduates end up. It found that 24% of new graduates from UK universities in 2014 and 2015 were working in London within six months of finishing their degree.

Centre for Cities researchers found that London was pulling in graduates with the highest marks from leading UK universities. In 2014-15, the capital attracted 38% of new graduates with firsts and 2:1s from leading research universities, known as the Russell Group, who moved for a job. The figure is about 13 times more than Manchester, the second most popular destination for that group.

The report said the trend was clearer still for new graduates from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. London gained 52% of Oxbridge graduates who moved for work after finishing university.

Evidence suggested that jobs were the most important factor influencing where graduates chose to move, the thinktank said. They were also attracted by the prospect of good career progression. But researchers found no relationship between graduates moving for work and the wages they were offered in the cities they chose. Policymakers should draw lessons from those findings, Jones said.

“Wage subsidies and other specific graduate retention policies will not tackle the root causes of this issue. Instead, the priority for national and local leaders should be strengthening city region economies, and increasing local demand and opportunities for graduates,” she said.

“In the autumn statement, the government should therefore focus on boosting economic growth in city regions across the country by investing in large-scale housing and transport projects. It should also use the new economic and industrial strategy to reinforce and complement the devolution deals currently in place for city regions like Greater Manchester, to give them greater scope to grow their economies, and to develop and attract talented workers.”

The Centre for Cities study helps build a picture of London’s dominance in the UK economy, illustrated by Observer data published on Sunday showing that 310,000 graduates have left the north of England in the past decade. Jim O’Neill, a former Treasury minister and the architect of George Osborne’s “northern powerhouse”, said more initiatives were needed to reverse the brain drain. The former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management resigned from the government in September.

There have been doubts as to whether Theresa May is as committed to the north as her predecessor, David Cameron, with reports suggesting she also wants to focus on other rural and industrial areas in response to the Brexit vote.

Council leaders in Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Sheffield, along with the Labour candidates for Greater Manchester mayor and the mayor of the Liverpool city region, have written to the chancellor calling for east-west transport links to be made a priority.