BRAIN STRAIN Optimising highly skilled migration from developing countries B. Lindsay Lowell, Allan Findlay and Emma Stewart IPPR Roundtable (4th June 2004)

Outline SESSION 1: The scale of the problem SESSION 2: Development impacts SESSION 3: Policies

SESSION 1: The scale of the problem

What is highly skilled migration? –Definitions –Trends

The scale of brain drain Key Reference: Findlay, AM and Stewart, E (2002), Skilled Labour Migration from Developing Countries: Annotated Bibliography, International Migration Papers 55, International Labour Office.

Acute problems - one-third of 55 developing countries lose more than 15 per cent of their tertiary educated population, –40 per cent from Turkey and Morocco, and half of tertiary educated adults from the Caribbean.

Differences between sectors -South African healthcare workers. -12 per cent of Indias doctors are working in the UK. -Half of the Philippines information technology workers emigrate. Differential impact

Highly skilled emigration and economic development –Brain strain versus brain drain –Optimal levels of emigration (Beine et al. 2003) –Locations isolated from skilled migration lose out.

Possible Positive Impacts on Sending Countries –Remittances –Absorbing unemployed skilled workers –International and intra-company capital investment –Knowledge flows –Economic development?

SESSION 2: Development Impacts

SESSION 3: Policies

Policies that Optimize Skilled Migration Migration Management: Control entry & facilitate temporary mobility Diaspora Option: Leverage of knowledge & investments Democracy & Development: Human rights & targeted projects Figure 4. Policies for Skilled Migration

Migration management 1. Control out-migration from at- risk countries Recruitment bans Recruitment bans Refined list to reflect sectoral strengths and weaknesses Refined list to reflect sectoral strengths and weaknesses 2. Accountability for recruitment agencies and employers Ethical guidelines/Code of Practice Ethical guidelines/Code of Practice Independent auditing process Independent auditing process

Migration management 3. Best practice for employing foreign workers Ethical recruitment Ethical recruitment Autonomy and distributive justice Autonomy and distributive justice 4. Temporary worker schemes Ensure programmes are temporary Ensure programmes are temporary 5. Facilitate and create incentives for return

The diaspora option –Knowledge and skills transfer –Remittances and investment

Policies for democracy and development –Strengthening institutions and human rights –Education and targeted development

Inter-governmental agreements and harmonisation –Bilateral and multilateral agreements –General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)

Conclusions and recommendations Recommendations: –Short to medium term - temporary labour migration programmes linked to strong measures to encourage migrant return; and –Long term - policies that capitalize on expatriate diasporas, support human rights, and harmonize international migration policies of sending and receiving states.