Brain Drain & Brain Gain

The movement of skilled workers internationally represents brain gain for the countries that reap their skills and experience and brain drain for their countries of origin. On the brain gain side of the divide, countries increasingly are looking to position their immigration policies to attract the types of international workers and students whose skills they desire. On the brain drain side, the development impacts of losing educated workers are being assessed in immigrant-sending and receiving countries alike as the research presented here shows.

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Articles April 3, 2024 Brain Drain and Brain Gain in Hong Kong’s Population Shuffle By Yiran Yu	Articles January 26, 2024 Aging Societies Rely on Immigrant Health-Care Workers, Posing Challenges for Origin Countries By Heidi Bludau
Articles August 29, 2023 As Nauru Shows, Asylum Outsourcing Has Unexpected Impacts on Host Communities By Julia Morris	Articles July 5, 2023 Haitians Flee a Nation Nearing Collapse By Emmanuela Douyon
Reports June 2023 Migration Narratives in Northern Central America: How Competing Stories Shape Policy and Public Opinion in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador By Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, Alejandra Lopez and Alejandro Vélez Salas	Articles May 18, 2023 Tense Neighbors, Algeria and Morocco Have Divergent Migration Histories By Mohammed Ouhemmou
Articles April 19, 2023 Crisis provoca emigración récord desde Nicaragua, superando los niveles de la Guerra Fría By Charles G. Ripley III	Articles March 21, 2023 Can Czechia Capitalize on High-Skilled Immigration amid Influx of Ukrainians? By Lucie Macková and Nikola Medová

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Reports June 2023 Migration Narratives in Northern Central America: How Competing Stories Shape Policy and Public Opinion in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador By Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, Alejandra Lopez and Alejandro Vélez Salas	Reports March 2023 Migration, Integration, and Diaspora Engagement in the Caribbean: A Policy Review By Valerie Lacarte, Jordi Amaral, Diego Chaves-González, Ana María Sáiz and Jeremy Harris
Reports April 2022 Destination-Country Policies to Foster Diaspora Engagement in Development By Kathleen Newland	Policy Briefs December 2021 How Can Europe Deliver on the Potential of Talent Partnerships? By Kate Hooper
Policy Briefs July 2021 Deepening Labor Migration Governance at a Time of Immobility: Lessons from Ghana and Senegal By Camille Le Coz and Kate Hooper	Policy Briefs June 2019 Migration, Development, and Global Governance: From Crisis toward Consolidation By Kathleen Newland
Reports February 2019 Exploring New Legal Migration Pathways: Lessons from Pilot Projects By Kate Hooper	Reports January 2019 Sustainable Reintegration: Strategies to Support Migrants Returning to Mexico and Central America By Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas, Luis Argueta and Randy Capps

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People walk through the streets of Hong Kong

Feature

April 3, 2024

Brain Drain and Brain Gain in Hong Kong’s Population Shuffle

Hong Kong finds itself in the middle of opposing trends. Amid political unrest, Beijing's increasing security pressure, and pandemic disruptions, many Hong Kongers have left and been replaced by a new group of immigrants, largely from mainland China. The dynamic has raised questions whether Hong Kong will remain a global cosmopolitan hub or instead turn inward to Asia, as this article discusses.

Feature

January 26, 2024

Aging Societies Rely on Immigrant Health-Care Workers, Posing Challenges for Origin Countries

Countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany are increasingly relying on immigrant health-care workers to fill gaps in their workforce and care for aging populations. That has created opportunities for many foreign-born doctors and nurses, but could harm their origin countries. This article examines the dynamics of global health-care worker migration, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Protests at a refugee compound in Nauru.

Feature

August 29, 2023

As Nauru Shows, Asylum Outsourcing Has Unexpected Impacts on Host Communities

For two decades, asylum seekers seeking to reach Australia by boat were diverted to Nauru, a small Pacific Island nation that made a hefty profit off the extraterritorial asylum arrangement. But attitudes among local Nauruans have been mixed, with some fearing their economy revolved around Australia and the foreign workers who shuttled in and out of the processing center. As more countries seek to strike offshore asylum deals, this article examines the effects on local communities.

Haitians at a medical site in Jeremie, Haiti.

Feature

July 5, 2023

Haitians Flee a Nation Nearing Collapse

The Haitian diaspora has swelled since a massive earthquake in 2010 and in the wake of violent riots that culminated in a political crisis in 2018 and the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Poverty, natural disasters, political crisis, and insecurity have historically driven Haitian migration. Destination countries have often rejected these arrivals and sought to deport Haitian migrants in large numbers.

Feature

May 18, 2023

Tense Neighbors, Algeria and Morocco Have Divergent Migration Histories

Algeria and Morocco sit along a crucial migration corridor between Africa and Europe and have often been defined by their rivalry. Although both have been reluctant to welcome large numbers of sub-Saharan African migrants, their motivations have been different. And historically, their approaches to emigration have been a study in contrasts. This article explores the factors driving migration policy in these two countries.

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Commentaries

June 2017

Immigrants and the New Brain Gain: Ways to Leverage Rising Educational Attainment

By Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix

Commentaries

January 2015

The Field of Migration Studies Loses a Giant: Graeme Hugo

By Demetrios G. Papademetriou

Expert Q&A, Audio

November 17, 2022

Climate Change in the World’s Fastest Growing Economy

Guyana is a small country in South America that will be greatly transformed by the recent discovery of massive offshore oil reserves. This episode of Changing Climate, Changing Migration discusses how the world’s fastest growing economy is confronting environmental change, particularly with economic growth and proximity to troubled Venezuela likely to drive significant immigration.

Expert Q&A, Audio

April 2, 2021

The Benefits of Climate Migration

Popular discussions usually frame climate change-induced migration negatively, often as a strategy of last resort. But migrating abroad can also be an effective way to build resilience against the impacts of climate change.

Event PH 2015.12.16 Emigration and Human Capital Development in the Philippines

Audio

December 16, 2015

Shortage Amid Surplus: Emigration and Human Capital Development in the Philippines

This briefing in Bangkok launches the MPI-IOM Issue in Brief, Shortage amid Surplus: Emigration and Human Capital Development in the Philippines, which reviews the impacts of the Philippines' successful labor export policy on skills development and human capital growth within the country. While Filipino migrant workers contribute significantly to the national economy with the remittances they send home (over US $27 billion in 2014), this reliance on exporting labor raises an important question: Has the nation’s focus on preparing workers to leave compromised human capital development at home?

Audio

November 24, 2015

Addressing the Implications of the Emigration of Skilled and Educated Europeans

A discussion on how governments and societies can retain their most valuable workers, turn emigration challenges into opportunities, and capture more of the potential benefits of emigration.

EventPH 2015.3.26 Womens Labour Migration from Asia and the Pacific

Audio

March 26, 2015

The Asia-Pacific and Women’s Labour Migration

Marking the release of the 12th MPI-IOM Issue in Brief, this event in Bangkok examined the emerging trends in women’s labor migration in the Asia-Pacific region, and the related opportunities and challenges. The audio does not include opening remarks and begins with the author's presentation.

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs

June 2019

Migration, Development, and Global Governance: From Crisis toward Consolidation

Migration and development policy discussions have edged closer to each other on the international stage. The adoption of the Global Compact for Migration in December 2018 marks an important milestone. As all eyes turn toward the compact’s implementation, this brief examines some of the key topics states have pledged to work more closely on—from labor migration and migrants’ rights, to returns and reintegration.

Reports

February 2019

Exploring New Legal Migration Pathways: Lessons from Pilot Projects

As European countries launch ambitious new legal migration partnerships with several origin and transit countries in Africa, this report takes stock of the long and mixed history of such projects. To make the most of their potential to encourage skills development and fill pressing labor gaps, policymakers will need to think carefully about the partners and sectors they choose, among other key considerations.

Reports

January 2019

Sustainable Reintegration: Strategies to Support Migrants Returning to Mexico and Central America

Reception and reintegration programs for deported and other returning migrants represent a long-term investment for migrant-origin and destination countries, holding the potential to reduce re-migration and permit communities of origin to benefit from the skills migrants learn abroad. This report offers recommendations to make reintegration programs more effective in Mexico and Central America.

Policy Briefs

September 2018

Reimagining Skilled Migration Partnerships to Support Development

While partnerships to facilitate skilled migration have had mixed success in the past, the Global Compact for Migration is advancing a new approach that may change this. This policy brief compares this new partnership model with the traditional one, highlighting the questions policymakers will need to answer if they are to encourage mobility, sustain employer engagement, and see development benefits in countries of origin.

Commentaries

June 2017

Immigrants and the New Brain Gain: Ways to Leverage Rising Educational Attainment

A recent MPI study reveals that 48 percent of recent immigrants to the United States were college graduates, a sharp increase over earlier periods. How can the United States better leverage this brain gain? This commentary outlines some policies that could allow the United States to more fully utilize the professional and academic credentials that highly skilled immigrants have, for their benefit and that of the U.S. economy.

Fact Sheets

June 2017

New Brain Gain: Rising Human Capital among Recent Immigrants to the United States

Nearly half of immigrant adults arriving in the U.S. since 2011 have a college degree—a far higher share than a quarter-century ago, when just 27 percent did. This striking but little noted shift in the composition of recent immigrant flows, driven in part by rising migration from Asia, comes as some policymakers press for a "merit-based" immigration system. This fact sheet examines rising human capital at U.S. and state levels.

Reports

March 2017

The Long Road Ahead: Status Report on the Implementation of the ASEAN MRAs on Professional Services

While it has been years since the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed accords to facilitate the movement of professionals in seven occupations, implementation of these Mutual Recognition Arrangements remains "painfully slow and uneven across countries." This final report in an MPI-Asian Development Bank series explores MRA implementation by sector, and offers recommendations to help achieve the goal of greater skill mobility in Southeast Asia.

Reports

February 2017

Firing Up Regional Brain Networks: The Promise of Brain Circulation in the ASEAN Economic Community

Given diverging demographics, rising educational attainment and wide variation in economic opportunities, countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are poised to see an expansion of both the demand for and supply of skilled migrants willing and able to move. The convergence of these megatrends represents unique opportunities for human-capital development and brain circulation, as this report explores.

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