Brain Drain as a challenge for Poland Jerzy Woźnicki www.frp.org.pl 1
2 This presentation is just a basic introduction to the problem of brain drain in Poland It is not to describe the problem in details
Brain Drain 3 Brain Drain the departure of educated or professional people from one country, economic sector, or field for another usually for better pay or living conditions Encyclopaedia Britannica
Brain Drain 4 Historically brain drain refers to migration of higly skilled workers from developing countries to developed countries (south->north). Not anymore!
Brain: circulation or drain? 5 International mobility has a long tradition as science is, by nature, a universal culture Brain circulation cycle to move abroad to study, working, and later returning home however In the 1950s US has become a net importer of scientists and engineers 400.000 of a total 11 milion European scientists (PhD) work in US (2007) brain drain, becouse USA attrackts the best of the best P. Giannoccolo: Brain Drain Competition Policies in Europe: a Survey.University of Milano, 2006.
Benefitial Brain Drain? 6 but Emigration has a negative impact by draining labour out of sending economy (drain effect) Emigration might have beneficial effect by encouraging human capital formation (brain effect) (One may choose to educate himself more to win the emigration ticket) there is a danger of becoming a brain desert
EU, US and Japan 03 7 Number of students as a share in the age group 20-24 Number of students EU USA Japan 57% 81% 50% 17 761 762 16 611 712 3 984 400 PhDs earned 88 100 46 000 14 500 Number of researchers /1000 working people 5,5 9,1 10,1 Eurostat Currently more than half the people with PhDs working in America are immigrants! A. Tritad: The Brain Drain between Knowledge Based Economies: the European Human Capital Outflow to the US. CEPII 2008.
Third- country highly qualified workers of the total of the employed population 8 Region % Australia 9,9 Canada 7,3 Switzerland 5,3 US 3,2 EU 1,72 2007 European Union does not drain brains! Attractive conditions for the admission and residence of highly qualified immigrants. European Comission, MEMO/07/423.
Measures to promote intra-eu mobility Polish perspective 9 Promoting international mobility of researchers recomendations by interdyscyplinary committee: Creation of national strategy Special programmes for polish researchers returning to Poland and foreign researchers coming to Poland
Measures to promote intra-eu mobility of students - Polish perspective Erasmus: Polish students going abroad 10 10 lat Erasmusa w Polsce [10 years of Erasmus in Poland]. http://www.erasmus.org.pl/s/p/artykuly/88/88/10_lat_erasmusa_p ol_internet.pdf
Measures to promote intra-eu mobility of students - Polish perspective 11 Erasmus: students coming to Poland 10 lat Erasmusa w Polsce [10 years of Erasmus in Poland]. http://www.erasmus.org.pl/s/p/artykuly/88/88/10_lat_erasmusa_p ol_internet.pdf
Measures to promote intra-eu mobility 12 Powroty.gov pl [Returns] special website, created by Polish government, containing information on all problems related to returning to Poland after spending some time as an emmigrant
EU Blue Card 13 Introduced in 2007 by European Commission as a mean to attract foreign highly qualified workers A fast track procedure for the admission of highly qualified third-country workers based on common criteria To avoid brain drain effects in developing regions promotion of ethical recruitment standards Similar to American Green Card
Nationality of recent intra-eu movers (age group 15-64), 2003-2007 (% of all recent intra-eu movers) 14 Report on the impact of free movement of workers in the context of the EU enlargement. European Commission, Brussels 2008, p. 6 (http://ec.europa.e u/social/blobservle t?docid=686&langi d=en)
Main destination countries of recent intra-eu movers (age group 15-64), 2007 15 Poland (PL), Germany (DE), United Kingdom (UK), France (FR), Ireland (IE), Austria (AT), Spain (ES) Report on the impact of free movement of workers in the context of the EU enlargement. European Commission, Brussels 2008, p. 6 (http://ec.europa.eu/social/blobservlet?docid=686&langid=en)
Polish emigration 1988-2003 16 P. Kaczmarczyk, J. Tyrowicz: Migracje osób z wysokimi kwalifikacjami [Migration of highly qualified workers]. Polsko-Amerykańska Fundacja Wolności, Warsaw 2008.
Polish migration after EU accession (2004): some numbers 17 in last 4 years 2% of population emigrated (official data)* registered imigration to Poland is about 0.01 % of population (plus large number of workers from Eastern countries in the black economy, usually workers with low qualifications, but also scientists and doctors) 90% of Polish emigrants in Great Britain and Ireland has at least finished high school, 22% has higher education (2007) 40-80% work below their qualifications * some estimations show that it can be as high as 2 millions P. Kaczmarczyk, J. Tyrowicz: Migracje osób z wysokimi kwalifikacjami [Migration of highly qualified workers]. Polsko-Amerykańska Fundacja Wolności, Warsaw 2008.
The Polish experience - Migration advantages 18 Personal: Higher income Higher standard of life, sense of financial stability Career development Broadening and improving qualifications Lack of sense of being underestimated in the financial and social context in home countries P. Kaczmarczyk, J. Tyrowicz: Migracje osób z wysokimi kwalifikacjami [Migration of highly qualified workers]. Polsko-Amerykańska Fundacja Wolności, Warsaw 2008.
The Polish experience - Migration advantages 19 Social: Networking sending and receiving economies Knowledge transfer Funds transfer Growth of entrepreneurship, Development of modern, mobile society, P. Kaczmarczyk, J. Tyrowicz: Migracje osób z wysokimi kwalifikacjami [Migration of highly qualified workers]. Polsko-Amerykańska Fundacja Wolności, Warsaw 2008.
The Polish experience - Migration disadvantages 20 Personal Social position inadequate to expectations and qualifications Working below qualifications Depreciation of qualifications P. Kaczmarczyk, J. Tyrowicz: Migracje osób z wysokimi kwalifikacjami [Migration of highly qualified workers]. Polsko-Amerykańska Fundacja Wolności, Warsaw 2008.
The Polish experience - Migration disadvantages 21 Social: Permanent lost of brains, affecting economical development Threat for some sectors (e.g. health care) Depreciation of human capital Public investment in education lost Long-term demographic consequences (older society) P. Kaczmarczyk, J. Tyrowicz: Migracje osób z wysokimi kwalifikacjami [Migration of highly qualified workers]. Polsko-Amerykańska Fundacja Wolności, Warsaw 2008.
EU Conclusions 22 the overall impact of post-enlargement mobility has been positive intra-eu mobility has not led and is unlikely to lead to serious labour market disturbances. there are indications that much of recent intra-eu mobility has been of a temporary nature. experience shows that cross-border labour mobility tends to be selfregulating and decline in times of economic downturns Report on the impact of free movement of workers in the context of the EU enlargement. European Commission, Brussels 2008, p. 6 (http://ec.europa.eu/social/blobservlet?docid=686&langid=en)
Conlclusions Polish perspective 23 General remark Lack of in-depth information about Polish migration, especially brain drain, doesn't allow us to make long-term predictions and gives us more questions then answers Conclusions Brain Drain is not yet economical problem for Poland (lower human capital but financial transfers ) Migration is becoming real social problem Migration is deepening demographical problems within labour market and system of education Migration within European Union, as one of forms of mobility and one of the fundamental values, and principles and rights, shouldnt be questioned
24 Thank you for your kind attention!