The Migration Flow of Teachers at Tertiary Level with a Focus in Economic Factors

Abstract

This article discusses how economics factors affect the migration of teachers at the tertiary level. The study focuses on the analysis of earnings, a harmonised index of consumer prices, personal income taxes, the gross domestic product, unemployment and expenditure on education at the tertiary level of 32 European countries during three different moments, i.e. 2002 (the last world economic slump of the 20th century), 2006 (an economic expansion), and 2010 (the financial collapse of the 21st century). Results showed that: 1) economic factors affect the migration flow of teachers significantly; 2) the level of earnings is the key determinant of variations in the number of migrant teachers at the tertiary level in Europe, and 3) earnings and the effect of personal income tax determine the number of migrant teachers at the tertiary level in a country and 4) the unemployment also affects migrant teachers migration in the opposite way, i.e. the higher the unemployment, the lower the number of migrant teachers is.