A high quality labor force is a necessary condition for economic growth. Therefore the flight of qualified labor abroad is traditionally considered to be a big problem for developing countries as they lose talented people with key skills to countries offering improved salaries and lifestyles. Yet, in the age of globalization another approach concerning ‘brain drain’ issue has emerged: emigration of skilled labor can lead to substantial benefits to the original countries they have emigrated from, such as Ukraine. Nowadays, countries can develop not only with the help of the domestic human capital but by effectively managing their human resources abroad as well. “Brain drain” is traditionally considered to be a threat to a country’s economic development. Yet potential benefits of emigration are usually not taken into account

So can Ukraine’s economy benefit from the emigration of talent? Should the country encourage emigration and focus on increasing the effectiveness of its interaction with emigrants, or concentrate instead on keeping its talented workers here in inside the country?

Arguments FOR the motion

Having left for a foreign country, highly qualified professionals will contribute to the future influx of investments, technologies, ideas, and higher and more effective standards of doing business in their homeland. The departure of talented people abroad gives them a chance to find a better match for their abilities, to accumulate financial resources and to establish business contacts they are unlikely to gain in their own country. As a result, returning home later, they bring greater benefits to Ukraine, and the country will have to spend much less on creating conditions for talent development. Moreover, the temporary departure of students and scholars to participate in research projects increases the skills of local scientists and helps to integrate Ukraine into the world science and education community.

Having left the country, talents can return with new knowledge, skills and resources

They also facilitate the promotion of domestic goods and services on the global market. Having preserved their business contacts from home and gained access to foreign markets resources, emigrants with their contacts and reputation serve as a useful link between domestic producers and foreign consumers. For example, Indians working in Silicon Valley contributed significantly to the infiltration of Indian IT companies into the US market. Emigrants promote national goods and services on the global market and showcase their mother country
The opportunity to emigrate spurs the development of a local labor market. Ukrainians are motivated to get an internationally competitive education so they can find a job abroad. Not all of them will eventually leave their own country; some will stay, adding to the number of highly qualified experts in the country’s economy and science departments. Furthermore, threatened by “brain drain” issue, employers are pushed to constantly develop and improve working conditions to attract and maintain personnel. The opportunity to emigrate encourages people to get a better education and makes national employers improve their working conditions

Arguments AGAINST the motion

Emigration of highly qualified specialists depletes human capital. A vicious circle is created, when each consequent generation has to learn from people with lower and lower qualifications. As a result, the country’s productivity falls and its competitiveness in attraction of investments into high-tech industries decreases. In this situation, the economy gets locked in low value added good production. If a country loses a critical mass of highly educated and active population, it gets into a spiral of degrading labor force and production, and will need much greater resources to reverse the process and persuade talented people to return to their country of origin.

‘Brain drain’ leads to degradation of a country’s human capital and economic potential
The deficit of skilled labor spurred by emigration increases hiring costs for domestic companies, many of which experience difficulties in finding qualified professionals and have themselves to attract people from abroad. It increases the costs of goods and services, making them less competitive on the global market. Moreover, the skill deficit in public administration lowers the effectiveness of public service and hinders the process of reforms. The deficit of personnel increases costs and hampers the process of economic reforms
Countries spend a great deal of money on creating medical, educational and scientific infrastructures to foster a high-quality national labor force. Ukraine spends about one third of its budget on these kinds of social expenses. If highly qualified specialists, who developed in the country with the help of state support, leave for other countries, the country cannot capitalize on its investments, other economies will enjoy the fruits of its labors. The country fails to capitalize on its investments into human capital

The issue of the potential benefits for Ukraine from emigration of highly qualified personnel will be discussed at a public debate hosted by the Foundation for Effective Governance in partnership with Britain-based Intelligence Squared on September 22, 2011 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
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Some facts on professional migration

• Foreign nationals are owners of the majority of patent applications in some of the largest US companies, e.g. 64% at GE and 60% at Cisco (Global Talent Risk, WEF with BCG, 2011).
• The global estimated remittance flows sent by migrants in 2010 reached $440bn, including $53bn to India and $51bn to China (highest) as well as around $5 bn to Ukraine (Migration and Development Brief, World Bank, 2011).
• In the first half of the 2000s the number of Chinese student who left to study abroad remained high (over 100 ths a year) while only around 25% of those returned (by Sciencenet.cn, 2011). However, in 2009 the number of overseas-returned Chinese exceeded 100 ths for the first time. Now about 81% of researchers in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 54% of the academicians in the Chinese Academy of Engineering and 72% of the chief scientists in 863 Chinese programs are professionals who studied abroad and returned home (All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, 2010).
• The number of specialists with scientific degrees who officially leaving Ukraine falls by approximately 1.5 every two years since the end of 1990 (The State Committee of Statistics, 2009).
• Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, who left USSR/Russia in 1990’s, earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010.

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