Brain drain is
increasingly a matter of concern within the European Union, as more and more
highly skilled people migrate from the South and East to the North and West of
the continent.
Dr. Loredana Patrutiu-Baltes | 11 Sep
2014
Brain drain refers to the migration of highly trained
professionals, including scientists, researchers, nurses, doctors etc.
More than 2 million Poles have emigrated since Poland joined
the EU in 2004 seeking economic opportunities in Britain and elsewhere. Surveys show that many more want to join them.
The strong showing in the May 11, 2015 presidential
race for Pawel Kukiz, a former punk rock musician with an anti-establishment
message, was another sign that Poles are disgruntled. Kukiz came third with 20
percent of the vote after campaigning for Poland to introduce single-member
constituencies like in Britain to replace the current party list system, part
of a larger message that the system is rotten.
Kukiz has called the exodus an "extermination" of the Polish
people.
Brain drain is a current issue within the European continent,
and while its negative effects might not be very visible yet in those societies
most likely to be affected, in a few decades (20 or 30 years) those countries
will pay a heavy price if they fail to tackle this phenomenon.
The “brain drain” or “human capital flight” represents the
migration of well-educated or talented people. The term "brain drain"
was coined by the British Royal Society in the early '60s, in order to describe
the migration of skilled workforce - more precisely the departure of British scientists
and technicians to the U.S. and Canada. The phenomenon is most often associated
with economic loss for those countries losing their highly skilled workforce.
In Economics, this phenomenon is known as "human capital flight",
referring to the movement of the capital which is not invested in the country
where it was created. Brain drain is usually also associated with social loss,
since it refers to the exodus of highly specialized professionals, scientists,
researchers, academics and students. If we take into account that the human
resource is currently the most important resource owned by a society/company,
it can be concluded that the risk of the brain drain persistence can have
devastating future consequences for those countries losing their best trained
individuals.
The main causes of brain drain
The main cause of the brain drain phenomenon is the natural
desire of individuals to find new economic perspectives, recognition, higher
earnings and a better living standard.
More detailed studies have identified two types of causes: home
factors - which push for immigration, and host country factors - which attract
immigrants. These factors are called push-pull factors or rejection -
attraction factors. The main causes of the brain drain are related to: lack of
employment opportunities, economic underdevelopment and desire for better
economic prospects, specialists’ under-utilization, lack of research
facilities, desire for a higher qualification and recognition, a better
educational system and better opportunities for professionals.
The negative effects of brain drain on the
countries of origin
The home countries often invest public money to educate
young people in professions requested by the companies, but some of them leave
the country in order to exercise their professions in others countries. In this
case, the countries of origin not only lose specialists needed by their
economies, but also lose a lot of money spent with the specialists’ training.
As the vast majority of those who move abroad are young, brain drain
accentuates those issues associated with an aging of population in the
countries of origin.
Moreover, when a highly educated young person moves to
another country, the country of origin loses both the money spent on his
education, but also the future income that he could have generated if he had
remained in his country.
Regarding the solutions to limit the brain drain, for
reasons related to human rights and the freedom of movement, migration cannot
be politically prohibited or restricted; still, in the long term, governments
need to adopt effective measures for preventing the brain migration phenomenon.
The brain drain phenomenon within the European Union
The brain drain phenomenon has become more visible in Europe
since 2007 / 2008, when the economic crisis hit hard Southern European
countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal. Furthermore, following the
integration of Romania and Bulgaria into the EU, an important part of the
highly educated population from these two countries has decided to move to
other European countries.
The European regions most affected by the brain drain
phenomenon are: the South (Greece, Spain - especially Catalonia, and Portugal -
because of the high rates of unemployment among highly educated people and
especially the young), and Eastern Europe (Romania and Bulgaria – where low
wages in education, research and medicine caused a professional staff exodus to
Western countries). For example, in Romania the healthcare system is visibly
affected by the doctors and nurses’ migration, which has led to a shortage of
specialized medical staff.
In Spain, the progressive reduction of the budget for
education and research determined the migration of a large number of
professionals. To shoot a warning on the consequences caused by the brain
exodus in the Spanish economy and society, in December 2012, 50 university
rectors met in order to warn the political class that, if they continue with
the budget cuts policy in Education “the damage in the public R&D will be
irreversible (...) leaving thousands of young researchers without professional
perspective and seriously weakening the future of the Spanish economy” (Morel,
2013).
Regarding the situation in Portugal, according to the
economist Álvaro Santos Pereira, about 20% of the young Portuguese
professionals chose to leave their homeland to exploit their capabilities in
other countries (Pelletier, 2011).
In the case of Greece, the country most affected by the
economic crisis, and where unemployment among young people reaches 56.8% (in
March 2014), the brain drain is a real current issue.
Therefore, on the one hand, the departure of professionals,
scientists, students, IT engineers, medical staff or researchers from the South
to the North, as well as from the East to the West of Europe has caused real
damage to the economy and society of the country of origin.
On the other hand, in certain host countries, the brain
drain represents a threat to some qualified citizens which fear to lose their
jobs over another qualified EU citizen; in fact, at international level, there
are only few countries such as: USA, Canada or Japan which are really capable
of transforming the brain drain into a brain gain.
References:
· Morel, S. (2013), ‘En Espagne, la fuite des cerveaux face
à la crise’, Le Monde, 20 May.
· Pelletier, B. (2011), ‘L’Europe en crise et la fuite des
cerveaux’, Gestion des Risques Interculturels, 9 October.
· Muižnieks, N. (2014), ‘Youth human rights at risk during
the crisis’, Council of Europe, (http://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/-/youth-human-rights-at-risk-during-the-crisis).