Highly Skilled Migration: What Differentiates the ‘Brains’ Who Are Drained from Those Who Return in the Case of Greece? (original) (raw)
Related papers
Greek Brain Drainers in Europe: An Empirical Study
Springer proceedings in business and economics, 2017
The young people's migration that is high qualified and over skilled is one of the major issues in Greece during this crisis because it deducts from the economy a highly productive part of its labor force. The analysis of this issue, the reasons why the young scientists leave the country, and the adoption of economic policy measures that will deal with the roots of the problem are the biggest challenges. The purpose of this article is to describe this phenomenon and to highlight the most important factors that affect it. Firstly, some quantitative data are presented about the size of the phenomenon, secondly it is presented a bibliography review relevant to the topic, and finally it presents the empirical results of a survey on a sample of 379 people who have already emigrated and work abroad so as to become aware of the important factors that influenced their decision to emigrate abroad. With this in mind, the data analysis was examined by using the Microsoft Office Excel and the SPSS statistical package. After that, it was held a Descriptive Statistical Analysis, a Factor Analysis, a Variance Analysis, and a Reliability Analysis of the data of the research. The factor analysis uses mathematical procedures to simplify interrelated measures so as to be discovered patterns in a set of variables. Large data sets that consist of several variables can reduce their number by observing variable groups (factors). The Principal Component Analysis was used in order to export the factors of the factor analysis with Orthogonal rotation axes with the Varimax method, which is considered as one of the most reliable and popular methods. The suitability of the factor analysis was examined with the Bartlett's Sphericity statistical test and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin statistic test. The factor analysis drew on sixteen (16) factors.
Brain Drain: Greece’s Open Wound
HAPSc Policy Briefs Series, 2023
The phenomenon of brain drain, which refers to the emigration of highly skilled individuals from their home country, has been a long-standing challenge for Greece. After the global financial crisis of 2007-2009 struck the country, scholars have observed the escalation of brain drain, the loss of valuable human capital in terms of social and economic growth and development. The current phenomenon is linked throughout the relevant literature with other eras of the Greek past. Of course, beyond the historicity of the phenomenon, there are new factors that affect the current status. This policy brief attempts to work with the existing knowledge on the subject and recommend some policy directions.
2016
Brain drain is increasingly a matter of concern within the EU, as more and more highly skilled people migrate from the European south to the north and west of the continent. On the one hand, the phenomenon of brain drain refers to the migration of well-educated or talented people, i.e. highly skilled professionals, researchers, academics and students. On the other hand, the term ‘migration’ is used to define the geographical movement of individuals and groups, for temporary or permanent residency in another socio-cultural context. The causes for emigration are mainly financial, such as when the parent country’s economy is undergoing recession. The phenomenon of ‘brain drain’ is most often associated with economic loss for those countries losing their highly skilled workforce. In Economics, this phenomenon is known as ‘human capital flight’, referring to the movement of the capital, which is not invested in the country where it was created. Brain drain is usually also associated with...
Greece: education and brain drain in times of crisis
IRPPS working papers, , 2013
Brain drain is a phenomenon that Greece has experienced since late 1950, which has continued in subsequent decades and intensified over the 1990s. Although there was, in the first decade of the twenty-first century, a political and economic situation more stable than in the past, the unprecedented economic crisis that Greece is going through has caused, and will continue to cause, the increase in brain drain due to poor employment opportunities and strong austerity measures taken by past governments, which depress the level of living standards. If this massive human capital flight increases, which is very likely, it would surely worsen the situation as Greece would continue to suffer depression effects on its economy and to lose precisely the resources it needs for economic recovery. This article highlights some causes determining the brain drain in Greece, also in the light of some scientific surveys that analyse this phenomenon. Moreover, it tries to provide keys to ending the crisis and to economic recovery, starting from education and implementation of major reforms aimed at overcoming problems that have long plagued the Hellenic education system and that can enhance its quality, while maintaining commitments to equity and social justice.
Although several studies aim at analysing the causes and impacts of the current economic crisis, especially involving the case of Greece, the role that highly educated population holds has not received wider attention. Based on an examination of both secondary data on the Greek economy/labour market and primary data collected by a survey that included 1821 graduates, this paper shows that underutilization of highly educated population harmed the competitiveness of the Greek economy, a factor which has significantly contributed to the creation of the current debt crisis and fostered the migration of graduates.
Greece’s Emigration During the Crisis Beyond the Brain Drain
IMISCOE Research Series
How can we appraise and best describe the re-emergence of large-scale emigration from Greece in hindsight, more than ten years since the eruption of the Greek crisis? Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data collected in the context of the EUMIGRE project in the Netherlands and Greater London, this chapter provides an in-depth assessment of Greece’s emigration during the period of the country’s prolonged economic crisis from the perspective of the key actors, the migrants themselves. Focusing on their migration motivations, it explores how the crisis in Greece has altered everyday discourse on emigration and loosened up social constraints towards long distance mobility. It further highlights the significance of the freedom of movement within the EU in shaping the characteristics of the outflow and the experiences and aspirations of the migrants. Three different migrant profiles are singled out, the necessity driven migrants, the career-oriented migrants and the middling transnat...
Greece's " brain drain " and the crisis: morphology and beyond
Greece's severe economic crisis has been adversely affecting the country as a whole. One response to economic strain, unemployment and the lack of prospects has been the resumption of emigration, which has been expounding significantly. This is not dissimilar with the situation among other crisis-ridden countries too. The crisis' most adverse impact is also reflected in Greece's higher education. Specifically, the crisis has encroached and upset the market situation of, both, university teaching staff and Master and PhD holders to such a measure that it has come to operate as a potent push factor for an intensified brain drain. Indeed, the ongoing migratory exodus is directed primarily, but not exclusively, to Western EU countries, and operates as a survival mechanism. It affects the highly educated or trained, which are the new and potent element when compared with earlier episodes of emigration, although it is not solely limited to them. Even so, the assets that the highly educated actors mobilized in leaving the country and their numerical preponderance point to a middle-class social background. In fact, the resumption of the brain drain from Greece may also be seen as a pre-eminently middle-class social response to the crisis.
Journal of Education and Human Development, 2014
The phenomenon of "brain drain" usually involves the flows of graduates from the less developed countries to more developed ones. The phenomenon of "brain drain" is interpreted in the case of Greece, which is a developed country, as a result of the low demand for scientific personnel in the Greek labor market. A new immigrating wave of Greek people who leave abroad has become enormous in the last three years. This time it is not about unskilled workers, who seek for their fortunes, but about new graduates, who are qualified and have acquired the knowledge that allow them to work in more developed countries. It is about a phenomenon that had begun before the elation of economic crisis and everything points to the fact that it will culminate during the next period of time. Finally, skilled international migration undermines the development, which is impossible to be accomplished without knowledge.
International Journal of Social Economics,
Purpose-The study examines potential differences in socioeconomic status (SES) and emigration patterns between Greek International Students (IS) and Non-International Students (Non-IS), and their relationship to the brain drain from Greece. Study design/ methodology/ approach-The study draws on a unique database including all the Greek Ph.D. holders and provides detailed information on their SES and mobility patterns. Furthermore, an individual-level SES-index is constructed including both human capital and socioeconomic indicators to estimate the magnitude of the brain drain in terms of the SES that emigrated abroad between 1985 and 2018. Findings-First, Greek IS have a higher educational, professional, and economic status compared to Greek Non-IS. Moreover, they exhibit a more international profile, inasmuch as they are more likely to remain abroad after graduation to seek employment. Second, the magnitude of the brain drain in terms of SES emigrated abroad (22.5% of the total) is greater than in terms of individuals who moved abroad (13.4% of the total). Specifically, the SES that outflows with an additional Greek skilled emigrant (that is, an additional IS and Non-IS residing abroad) is 1.1 times greater than the SES that remains in Greece with an additional Non-IS residing in Greece. Originality/value-The study contributes to the scientific discussion that relates the SES of IS and highly skilled migrants to brain drain and fills the gap in the relevant literature.
Journal of Education and Human Development
The phenomenon of “brain drain” usually involves the flows of graduates from the less developed countries to more developed ones. The phenomenon of “brain drain” is interpreted in the case of Greece, which is a developed country, as a result of the low demand for scientific personnel in the Greek labor market. A new immigrating wave of Greek people who leave abroad has become enormous in the last three years. This time it is not about unskilled workers, who seek for their fortunes, but about new graduates, who are qualified and have acquired the knowledge that allow them to work in more developed countries. It is about a phenomenon that had begun before the elation of economic crisis and everything points to the fact that it will culminate during the next period of time. Finally, skilled international migration undermines the development, which is impossible to be accomplished without knowledge.