Poland is a victim of the brain drain. 580 thousand educated Poles work outside Poland

The European Committee of the Regions has presented a report on the brain drain in the European Union. The report shows that despite the opening of borders within the Union, employee mobility is relatively small: around 5 million EU citizens per job have moved around 17 million (or 3% of the population). Of these, 4.2 million were migrants with higher education.

More than half of the employees who changed countries in search of work were received by two states: Germany (33%) and Britain (20%). this applies to all employees, not just educated.

The most educated employees leave Poland

The share of highly skilled migrants among migrants in 2014-2017. The number of educated employees from Hungary (51%), Croatia (46%) and Slovakia (41%) was particularly fast.

However, in absolute numbers, the biggest victim of the brain drain is Poland, from which emigrated up to 576.3 thousand people with higher education. Germany is far behind Poland (472,700) or Romania (467,500).

It should be noted however that in terms of the proportion of emigrants in the country's population, Romania is more a victim of brain drain than Poland.

Among the factors favorable to the emigration of educated people, quite obvious problems were mentioned – emigrants are directed to countries and regions with strong economic growth. higher wages and strong social security. Educated employees are also attracted by cultural similarities, easy access to the labor market or a well-established knowledge economy.

Regions lacking talent suffer from high unemployment and low wages. The report also mentions other factors that encourage "escape" – administrative obstacles, recession and the wrong political environment.

Negative effects of brain drain

The exit of educated employees has negative consequences for local economies. This means that there is a shortage of employees with the appropriate qualifications in the local market, as the ability to innovate and adopt more advanced technologies is limited. In addition, tax revenues are reduced, consumption, economic growth and labor productivity decline.

In turn, regions that host employees have a growing potential for innovation (and thus increased competitive advantage), faster economic growth or increased demand for services, and so on.

Local initiatives on brain drain?

The labor market is the most important influence on the demand for educated people in the region (and hence the brain drain), but it is possible to fight the brain drain both locally and regionally. The report shows that such local programs can be effective.

Brain drainage is about encouraging high-level specialists to work in industrialized countries by providing them with better economic conditions and a modern work organization.