Trends in skilled migration: causes and consequences

In 2000, a severe shortage of nurses in Ireland resulted in the Irish State embarking on an unprecedented recruitment of nurses from around the world. The Philippines, having had a good reputation for producing top-notch nurses, was among the countries targeted for recruitment drives. Between 2000 and 2001, Ireland recruited over 3,500 Filipino nurses, the largest among non-EEA nationals, but this figure subsequently declined as a result of dynamic immigration and recruitment policies, international competition for nurses, and the global recession that befell Ireland. By 2004, Indian nationals had overtaken Filipinos among new nurse registrants in the Nursing Division Register, and have since become the majority of non-EEA nursing professionals in Ireland. This study examines the causes and consequences of the rise and decline of nurse recruitment in Ireland at the height of the Celtic Tiger era until the outset of the global recession using statistics from government agencies in the Philippines and Ireland, statistics from IELTS, review of immigration and recruitment policies, and in-depth interviews of nurses, recruiters, and other key informants.

International student mobility has increased rapidly since 1975 but little attention has been given to why countries differ in their rates of outbound student mobility or whether polices are needed to monitor outflows and encourage students to return home after completing their studies abroad. That is the case even though brain loss is of growing concern to senders. While a handful of papers have looked at student mobility, they differ in their conclusions. A couple of studies have found that students go abroad to study to take advantage of work opportunities abroad upon study completion but others have found that they do so because they lack study opportunities at home. No research paper has looked at student flows to a large number of sending countries and multiple destinations. This paper takes on that task by examining country differences in outbound mobility rates and their correlates. Regression analysis is used to evaluate the relative importance of several structural characteristics of sending countries, including: tertiary training capacity and investments; demand for higher education; GDP per capita; colonial status, population size, and international ties, etc. Preliminary findings show that countries with greater tertiary supply have lower outbound mobility while with higher demand have increased student outflows.

International mobility of students has increased tremendously over the last decade. At the same time the share of “frequent movers” has expanded. Under the conditions of a stiff global competition for highly qualified labour force, strategies of attracting and keeping the elite of these students are high on the political agenda of most countries. This raises questions about the benefits of this mobility. Looking closer at the national sub-groups shows, that the answers to these questions are nation-specific. The contribution approaches them by comparing Indian and Chinese international students in Germany, one of the countries which undertake strong efforts to retain specific human capital within its borders. The investigation presented is based on a literature review and pilot surveys among students. Preliminary results suggest that while India supplies comparatively few students, their transferred human capital is at a high level, as they cluster in master, post-graduate, PhD and post-doc programs. Chinese students are larger in number, and are mostly found at lower studies levels. Third countries, first of all the U.S. reap a comparatively high share of the investment done in the countries of origin as well as in the countries of follow-up studies.

In contrast with the global trend observed in the nineties, between 2000 and 2010 the migration of highly-skilled Mexicans to the United States has shown a relative decline. Focusing the attention on Mexico, we find that in recent years, the population with levels of postgraduate degrees (masters and doctorate) has substantially increased. This resulted in a major transformation in the structure of the Mexican labor force. Does this change the supply of skills and abilities?. Is it reflected in the conditions of the national labor market?. Does it impact the levels and characteristics of skilled migration?. Does it affect the type of labor incorporation achieved in the United States?

The paper explores the sociodemographic, migratory and labor characteristics assumed by the skilled workforce in Mexico compared with its counterpart in the United States. In particular, the paper analyzes the transformations on the labor market: the participation, activity and unemployment rates; the characteristics of occupations -including the relationship with the skill level of occupation-, as well as the main careers and sectors in which they are inserted in each country. Such knowledge will provide better inputs for further discussions on "drain", "waste" and "circulation" of highly qualified human resources.

In Brazil 2008 according to the Center for Strategic Studies and Management (CGEE) the federal and state government was responsible for hiring more than 60% of all PhDs in the National Postgraduate between years from 1996 to 2006. The mobility of qualified personnel among regions of the country, especially to the north and northeast, from the second half of the twentieth century was driven primarily by a state policy of Federal Universities via creation and expansion of the National Postgraduate (SNPG ) and secondarily on the devolution of productive activities. This migration is influenced by the lower rate of vacancy for teaching in universities in the Southeast region of the country via a vis the output of graduates SNPG these same universities. To fully understand this type of migration is necessary to understand the role of universities in the Brazilian national economic development, the alternative is necessary to analyze how the process of economic decentralization over the past few years has influenced the hiring this type of worker.

The linkage between migration and its impact on agriculture has attracted much academic and policy attention. Hence, the objective for the present study is to understand the pattern of farm activities between households with out-migrated males and households with non-migrants and also to test the hypothesis that migration entails more investment in farm activities and also to see whether migration has impact on cereal production or not. Primary data has been collected in rural area of Garhwal, in India. Majority of the households own agricultural land and negligible percentage of the households in the study area have abandoned agriculture. The mean area of agricultural land owned is higher among households with non-migrant husbands than the households with out-migrant husbands. Moreover, the mean land on which farming is done is higher among the former than the latter. It has been found that, people mostly grow cereals and there are certain agriculture related factors that are significantly associated with cereal production like total land use, having bulls, investment etc. Apart from this, investment in agriculture is negatively associated with the perception of future abandonment of agriculture. The agricultural responsibilities and work are now shouldered by the females in the households.

In article tendencies, factors, consequences emigration from Russia scientists and qualified professionals are considered. Article is based on materials of empirical statistical and sociological research which was spent by authors in 2011-2012. On the basis of comparison of the data of the Russian and foreign statistics the scale of “brain drain” during 2002-2010 - from 750 thousand to 1 million persons with higher education, including an order of 1,2-1,6 thousand doctors and candidates of science is estimated. Definition is specified and characteristics of the Russian scientific Diaspora are given, including its number is estimated approximately in 100-150 thousand persons. Channels of emigration of the Russian scientists abroad on the basis of interview to scientists and the experts living in the different countries of the world more of 1 year are revealed. Differences of processes of “circulation of minds” between the developed countries and “brain drain” from Russia are proved.

Confronted with declining labour force potentials as well as accelerating skill mismatches on their labour markets a growing number of European countries has adopted new migration policies. The sustainability of these policies depends largely on the migrants’ intentions to stay in their new host countries with a long-term perspective. However, little is known about the dynamics of this newest wave of skilled labour migration. Existing research with its focus on return intentions of earlier migrant generations – characterised by a fundamentally different socio-economic structure and institutional context – is hardly applicable today. Over the last decade, Germany has been one of the most prominent examples transforming its previously restrictive migration policy towards an active recruitment of international high potentials. This paper sheds light on the experiences of current labour migrants in Germany, making innovative use of three surveys originally developed by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees to evaluate these policy developments. In particular, it tests existing hypotheses about economic, social, cultural and institutional determinants on the newcomers’ intentions to stay in Germany. Furthermore, the paper provides additional information on adjusting and strengthening Europe’s labour migration policies.

This paper is divided into three parts aiming to understand what should be the most useful contents of policies for contemporary highly skilled migrations.
So, we will firstly provide a short overview of the methods proposed by several Authors in order to describe the main characteristics and trends of international brain drain. Then, in the second part we will show an overview of strategies adopted so far by the governments of those countries that, according to the demographic and economic literature, are the most involved in the brain drain phenomenon. As this kind of analysis does not allow to capture some problematic aspects of the actual world economic system, the discussion will be enriched by the analysis on how changing demographic, economic and social scenarios within the different countries may affect causes and dynamics of highly skilled migration. The most recent data published by the United Nations within the World Population Prospects and data from the analysis of the World Economic Forum (2011 and 2012) will be used as main sources.

The crisis started in 2008, in the United States, reaching Europe in 2009, had a direct impact on the labour market in the countries of Southern Europe, especially in sectors that employ immigrant labour, as construction. At the start of a new decade, in 2010, countries that previously had high positive net migration – Portugal and Spain – are experiencing reductions in this amount, until, in early 2011, these balances became negative. Across the Atlantic, the return migration stimulated by the crisis in the countries of Europe, found in Latin America a factor of attraction, due to the reduced impact of the crisis on countries in the region, coupled with the implementation of counter-cyclical policies to maintain employment and income. At the same time, European immigrants, highly qualified, leave in search of better job opportunities and join those who have opted for return, thus forming new flows of people coming to Latin America. Brazil, as an emerging country, becomes an important destination for Europeans, mainly from Spain and Portugal. The proposal of this paper is to study the interaction of these currents and counter-currents, describing the amount of these exchanges, the profile of immigrants, their demands and expectations, and main policy outcomes.