Global Migration of the Highly Skilled (PDF; 348 KB)
Source: United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology
From abstract:

Migration in a globalising world is on the increase, especially migration of the highly skilled. It is quite natural that given certain possibilities, people look for opportunities and chances to improve their lives. Especially when the better educated leave their country in large quantities to try their chances abroad it was labelled in the 1960’s as ‘brain drain’ stressing the negative welfare impact on the countries of origin (European at that time). However not always is the impact of migration negative for the country of origin and therefore ‘brain drain’ turned into ‘brain gain’ when it was seen from another perspective. Indeed destination as well as origin countries may profit from migrating highly skilled people. The road in the middle is called ‘brain strain’ emphasising that out migration can be either positive or negative for the origin countries. A synthesis has been found in perceiving migration of the highly skilled in the more neutral phrase ‘brain circulation’. Brain circulation perceives migration of the highly skilled not as an end in itself but as the start of a circular process in which everyone might be better off: in this view the knowledge worker in the age of globalisation turns into a real cosmopolite.

Hat tip: UN Pulse

This entry was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 8:37 pm and is filed under Immigration, International, Labor, Social and cultural issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.