International Migration, Remittances, and the Brain Drain : A Study of 24 Labor-Exporting Countries

While the level of international migration and remittances continues to grow, data on international migration remains unreliable. At the international level, there is no consistent set of statistics on the number or skill characteristics of...

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Main Author: Adams, Richard H. Jr.
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/06/2390972/international-migration-remittances-brain-drain-study-24-labor-exporting-countries
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18161
id okr-10986-18161
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-181612021-04-23T14:03:41Z International Migration, Remittances, and the Brain Drain : A Study of 24 Labor-Exporting Countries Adams, Richard H. Jr. AGED ANNUAL REPORT BORDERS BRAIN DRAIN CENSUS BUREAU CENSUS DATA CHARACTERISTICS OF MIGRANTS COUNTRY OF ORIGIN DOMESTIC LABOR ECONOMIC BENEFITS FROM IMMIGRATION EDUCATED PEOPLE EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT EDUCATIONAL STATUS EMIGRATION ETHNICITY HUMAN CAPITAL ILLEGAL MIGRANTS IMMIGRANT POPULATION IMMIGRANTS IMMIGRATION POLICY IMMIGRATION STATUS IMPACT OF MIGRATION INFORMAL CHANNELS INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION OF PEOPLE LABOR EXPORTING COUNTRIES LABOR- EXPORTING COUNTRIES LABOR-EXPORTING COUNTRIES LABOR-MARKET MIDDLE-INCOME MIGRANT MIGRANT EDUCATION MIGRANT HOUSEHOLDS MIGRANT POPULATION MIGRANT WORKERS MIGRANTS MIGRATION COSTS MIGRATION DATA MIGRATION FLOWS MIGRATION PROCESS MIGRATION RATES NUMBER OF MIGRANTS PARENTS PHYSICIANS PROFESSIONS SKILLED MIGRATION SYSTEM ON MIGRATION TERTIARY EDUCATION MIGRATIONS REMITTANCES BRAIN LABOR EDUCATION ECONOMIC GROWTH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES HUMAN CAPITAL HOUSEHOLDS BRAIN DRAIN TERTIARY EDUCATION MIGRATIONS While the level of international migration and remittances continues to grow, data on international migration remains unreliable. At the international level, there is no consistent set of statistics on the number or skill characteristics of international migrants. At the national level, most labor-exporting countries do not collect data on their migrants. Adams tries to overcome these problems by constructing a new data set of 24 large, labor-exporting countries and using estimates of migration and educational attainment based on United States and OECD records. He uses these new data to address the key policy question: How pervasive is the brain drain from labor-exporting countries? Three basic findings emerge: With respect to legal migration, international migration involves the movement of the educated. The vast majority of migrants to both the United States and the OECD have a secondary (high school) education or higher. While migrants are well-educated, international migration does not tend to take a very high proportion of the best educated. For 22 of the 33 countries in which educational attainment data can be estimated, less than 10 percent of the best educated (tertiary-educated) population of labor-exporting countries has migrated. For a handful of labor-exporting countries, international migration does cause brain drain. For example, for the five Latin American countries (Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica and Mexico) located closest to the United States, migration takes a large share of the best educated. This finding suggests that more work needs to be done on the relationship between brain drain, geographical proximity to labor-receiving countries, and the size of the (educated) population of labor-exporting countries. 2014-05-05T19:39:34Z 2014-05-05T19:39:34Z 2003-06 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/06/2390972/international-migration-remittances-brain-drain-study-24-labor-exporting-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18161 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 3069 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Latin America & Caribbean
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic AGED
ANNUAL REPORT
BORDERS
BRAIN DRAIN
CENSUS BUREAU
CENSUS DATA
CHARACTERISTICS OF MIGRANTS
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
DOMESTIC LABOR
ECONOMIC BENEFITS FROM IMMIGRATION
EDUCATED PEOPLE
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
EDUCATIONAL STATUS
EMIGRATION
ETHNICITY
HUMAN CAPITAL
ILLEGAL MIGRANTS
IMMIGRANT POPULATION
IMMIGRANTS
IMMIGRATION POLICY
IMMIGRATION STATUS
IMPACT OF MIGRATION
INFORMAL CHANNELS
INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION OF PEOPLE
LABOR EXPORTING COUNTRIES
LABOR- EXPORTING COUNTRIES
LABOR-EXPORTING COUNTRIES
LABOR-MARKET
MIDDLE-INCOME
MIGRANT
MIGRANT EDUCATION
MIGRANT HOUSEHOLDS
MIGRANT POPULATION
MIGRANT WORKERS
MIGRANTS
MIGRATION COSTS
MIGRATION DATA
MIGRATION FLOWS
MIGRATION PROCESS
MIGRATION RATES
NUMBER OF MIGRANTS
PARENTS
PHYSICIANS
PROFESSIONS
SKILLED MIGRATION
SYSTEM ON MIGRATION
TERTIARY EDUCATION MIGRATIONS
REMITTANCES
BRAIN
LABOR
EDUCATION
ECONOMIC GROWTH
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
HUMAN CAPITAL
HOUSEHOLDS
BRAIN DRAIN
TERTIARY EDUCATION
MIGRATIONS
spellingShingle AGED
ANNUAL REPORT
BORDERS
BRAIN DRAIN
CENSUS BUREAU
CENSUS DATA
CHARACTERISTICS OF MIGRANTS
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
DOMESTIC LABOR
ECONOMIC BENEFITS FROM IMMIGRATION
EDUCATED PEOPLE
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
EDUCATIONAL STATUS
EMIGRATION
ETHNICITY
HUMAN CAPITAL
ILLEGAL MIGRANTS
IMMIGRANT POPULATION
IMMIGRANTS
IMMIGRATION POLICY
IMMIGRATION STATUS
IMPACT OF MIGRATION
INFORMAL CHANNELS
INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION OF PEOPLE
LABOR EXPORTING COUNTRIES
LABOR- EXPORTING COUNTRIES
LABOR-EXPORTING COUNTRIES
LABOR-MARKET
MIDDLE-INCOME
MIGRANT
MIGRANT EDUCATION
MIGRANT HOUSEHOLDS
MIGRANT POPULATION
MIGRANT WORKERS
MIGRANTS
MIGRATION COSTS
MIGRATION DATA
MIGRATION FLOWS
MIGRATION PROCESS
MIGRATION RATES
NUMBER OF MIGRANTS
PARENTS
PHYSICIANS
PROFESSIONS
SKILLED MIGRATION
SYSTEM ON MIGRATION
TERTIARY EDUCATION MIGRATIONS
REMITTANCES
BRAIN
LABOR
EDUCATION
ECONOMIC GROWTH
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
HUMAN CAPITAL
HOUSEHOLDS
BRAIN DRAIN
TERTIARY EDUCATION
MIGRATIONS
Adams, Richard H. Jr.
International Migration, Remittances, and the Brain Drain : A Study of 24 Labor-Exporting Countries
geographic_facet Latin America & Caribbean
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 3069
description While the level of international migration and remittances continues to grow, data on international migration remains unreliable. At the international level, there is no consistent set of statistics on the number or skill characteristics of international migrants. At the national level, most labor-exporting countries do not collect data on their migrants. Adams tries to overcome these problems by constructing a new data set of 24 large, labor-exporting countries and using estimates of migration and educational attainment based on United States and OECD records. He uses these new data to address the key policy question: How pervasive is the brain drain from labor-exporting countries? Three basic findings emerge: With respect to legal migration, international migration involves the movement of the educated. The vast majority of migrants to both the United States and the OECD have a secondary (high school) education or higher. While migrants are well-educated, international migration does not tend to take a very high proportion of the best educated. For 22 of the 33 countries in which educational attainment data can be estimated, less than 10 percent of the best educated (tertiary-educated) population of labor-exporting countries has migrated. For a handful of labor-exporting countries, international migration does cause brain drain. For example, for the five Latin American countries (Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica and Mexico) located closest to the United States, migration takes a large share of the best educated. This finding suggests that more work needs to be done on the relationship between brain drain, geographical proximity to labor-receiving countries, and the size of the (educated) population of labor-exporting countries.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Adams, Richard H. Jr.
author_facet Adams, Richard H. Jr.
author_sort Adams, Richard H. Jr.
title International Migration, Remittances, and the Brain Drain : A Study of 24 Labor-Exporting Countries
title_short International Migration, Remittances, and the Brain Drain : A Study of 24 Labor-Exporting Countries
title_full International Migration, Remittances, and the Brain Drain : A Study of 24 Labor-Exporting Countries
title_fullStr International Migration, Remittances, and the Brain Drain : A Study of 24 Labor-Exporting Countries
title_full_unstemmed International Migration, Remittances, and the Brain Drain : A Study of 24 Labor-Exporting Countries
title_sort international migration, remittances, and the brain drain : a study of 24 labor-exporting countries
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2014
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/06/2390972/international-migration-remittances-brain-drain-study-24-labor-exporting-countries
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18161
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