OECD | World | Migration | Brain Drain : A new Report

Job Market Monitor

“Conventional wisdom suggests that international migration of the highly skilled from poor to rich countries — the so-called brain drain phenomenon — threatens development.” writes the OECD in its new report Migration and the Brain Drain Phenomenon.

It then adss: “Comparing emigration rates of the highly educated — the share of a country’s nationals with a university education who live in the OECD — reveals that low-income countries suffer disproportionately from the brain drain. In parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Central America, sometimes more than half of all university graduates migrate to OECD countries, with potentially serious consequences for critical sectors such as education, health and engineering.”

So, what should the Organization’s members do ? “Should OECD countries be taken to task for luring away crucial human resources from developing countries? Are OECD countries’ policies incoherent, given that their development assistance is often targeted to train teachers, doctors and engineers in developing countries? Maybe; but the story is more complicated than it first appears. In fact, the effect of emigration of the highly skilled is not always negative, as insufficient infrastructure often discourages people from working in the sectors for which they have been trained: nurses that leave a poor country, for example, are often not working in the health sector when they emigrate.”

A fierce debate to come ?

Source & details @ :

Related articles

Job Market Monitor

1. Update | Doctor brain drain costs Africa $2 billion | Who’s Gaining ? | Reuters « Job Market Monitor.
2. The evolution of brain drain and its measurement: Part I – Research Trends « Job Market Monitor
3. Brain drain from Czech hospitals continues – Radio Prague « Job Market Monitor.
4. Report: Highly skilled immigrants drive job creation for U.S. citizens – The Washington Post « Job Market Monitor.
5. Mexico’s brain drain to U.S. ‘a phenomenal loss’ – Noticias – SanDiegoRed « Job Market Monitor.
6. Brain drain in reverse: 6.3 MILLION Americans and counting live and work overseas | Mail Online « Job Market Monitor.
7. Brain drain reverses course, flows away from America | Reuters « Job Market Monitor.
8. Brain Drain / US / India / China: Is Reverse Brain Drain a New Trend Hitting America ? « Job Market Monitor.
9. In The News / US / Economy / Brain Drain : Bad for Innovation and California’s Attractiveness « Job Market Monitor.
10. Reverse Brain Drain / China / India / US: Opportunities that didn’t exist in prior decades « Job Market Monitor.