High-skilled Migrants Research Articles

Revisiting the Trade-Migration Nexus: Evidence from New OECD Data

International migrants contribute to bilateral trade creation if their presence reduces trade costs or entails additional demand for goods from their source countries. However, only the trade-cost channel matters for beneficial welfare gains from migration. Using new data on stocks of foreign-born individuals by skill class, we try to separately quantify those two channels. We assume that improved information affects host countries' imports and exports symmetrically, while the preference channel matters for imports only. For differentiated goods, both channels contribute evenly towards the total trade-creating effect of migration. Hence, looking at the total trade-creating effect of migration substantially overestimates the welfare gains. In line with expectations, the trade cost channel - and hence the efficiency effect - is largest with differentiated goods and for high-skilled migrants.

The Peculiarities of Knowledge Workers Migration in Europe and the World

The problem of knowledge workers migration is ex-tremely important in the knowledge economy conditions. Scientific researches point out the probability to assess the consequences of knowledge workers migration to the source country’s economy. However there are many mis-understandings in knowledge workers definitions. Con-sidering this the conception of knowledge workers is crystallised in this article. The basic theoretical findings are made on knowledge workers migration as well. There are analysed migration theories which should be used explaining the reasons and consequences of high skilled migration. Positive and negative effects of knowledge workers migration for “source” and “purpose” countries are highlighted in the article as well. The practical find-ings are based on analysis of knowledge workers migra-tion’s tendencies in Europe and the World. As the out-come of theoretical analysis the determinants affecting knowledge worker’s decision to migrate are systemised. The methods how to avoid or control the knowledge workers migration are suggested in the article.

Locating Hong Kong in the Global Networks of Professional Migrants

This paper shows that the statement that Hong Kong has a large and stable stock of highly skilled migrants is a misconception. In fact, the landscape of professional migrants in Hong Kong is undergoing significant transformation in both number and types, which provides us with an opportunity to examine the mechanism of talent attraction in Hong Kong. As the case of Hong Kong represents important general aspects of the dynamics of the skilled migrants of a global city, this study is of more than local significance. This paper begins with a description of the demographic change of highly-skilled migrants in Hong Kong before and after 1997. It then compares the effectiveness and limitations of major propositions in explaining this demographic change. The author argues that government policies, which are overlooked by most migration theories, play important roles in steering the movement of skilled migrants in Hong Kong. After a review of Hong Kong’s immigration polices before and after 1997, the

White-collar Nationalisms

The export of information technology (IT) services from India—including software programming and IT-enabled work such as call centers that handle human resources, financial services, customer services—has been growing exponentially over the past decade. Although the overall employment figures accounts for only a tiny fraction of the overall working population, the promise and potential for IT-related jobs loom large for globalized, urban, middle-class Indians, the same jobs that today appear to threaten middle-class Americans afraid of being “Bangalored.” In this paper I offer a critical reading of the debate between critics and advocates of outsourcing and high-skilled migration. I argue that both sides of the debate are premised on what I call “white-collar nationalisms” mobilized by conservative political forces. Specifically, Indian H-1B workers have been characterized as vulnerable victims of globalization who are then blamed for threatening the sanctity of both national security and “good” American jobs. Turning to the Indian context, we see that high-skilled emigrants to the United States essentially play the opposite role in the Hindu nationalist imaginary. Instead of hapless victims, “skilled” Indian migrants in the United States have been celebrated as the “heroes” of the nation's new economic development strategy. The appeal (and lack of alternative to) white-collar nationalisms limit the political landscape to a debate between two positions that are essentially mirror images of each other. My research is based on analysis of websites, blogs and media coverage of the high-tech migration and white-collar off-shoring debates between 1998 and 2005.

High Skilled Immigration in the International Arena

This conceptual paper, prepared for a United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Migration and Development, is concerned with the international mobility of high-skilled workers, previously referred to as the brain drain. After discussing the historical background of high-skilled international migration, the paper examines the reasons for the recent growth in demand for high-skilled workers in the technologically advanced nations. If then examines the impact of high-skilled migration on the level and distribution of income in the destinations. The causes and consequences of high-skilled emigration from the perspective of the origins or sending countries are examined. Educational finance and taxing policies that encourage emigration, emigrant remittances, and the brain gain from returning emigrants are discussed. Alternative public policies are considered.

Transatlantic Roundtable on High–skilled Migration and Sending Countries Issues

Globalization and the advent of the knowledge economy have created a new context where there is a greater demand for the highly skilled, especially in the information technology (IT) industry. High–skilled migration has become increasingly more complex, even if in recent years the term “brain drain” has become a generic reference to “high–skilled migration” of all types. It has also become clear that brain mobility does not automatically translate into “brain drain”, and that impacts vary by the types of skills held by migrants.The meeting demonstrated that while much is known about high–skilled migration and its effects on source countries, there is also a great deal yet to be learned in a dynamic environment. Many participants deplored the lack of reliable data, which makes it difficult to know what is really going on and to establish appropriate policies. Clearly, there are an array of policies that can offset possible adverse effects of skilled mobility and even leverage the flow into positive outcomes for source countries. A key element is improvement of the population’s general level of education. Low levels of skills keep average labour productivity and wages low and therefore retard development. Long–term strategies to promote economic growth are needed to enable developing countries to retain and draw back their highly skilled and address the negative effects of the brain drain. Migrants themselves can play an important role through their remittances, diaspora networks, and own willingness to return – at least temporarily — to share their skills and contribute to economic progress. Finally, destination countries can facilitate the process through policies that promote circulation of highly skilled migrants.

High Skilled Migration and the Exertion of Effort by the Local Population

The design of optimal immigration policy, particularly in the face of the spiralling demand for highly skilled workers, such as IT workers and engineers, is a topical issue in the policy debate as well as the economic literature. In this paper, we present empirical evidence from firm level data collected in 2000 on the demand in Europe for highly skilled workers in general and abroad and their determinants. Major findings are that the fraction of highly skilled recruited from the international labour market is very small, and it seems that foreign and domestic workers are very similar in terms of formal education, that is subject of specialisation, and job characteristics. We suggest an efficiency wage model that can explain why firms recruit foreign workers in small numbers and are willing to pay migrants the same wage as local workers and at the same time are willing to pay for moving costs, for example, that are specific to immigrating workers.

Research and Policy Issues in High-Skilled International Migration: A Perspective with Data from the United States

Highly-skilled migrants are becoming a more important part of the world economy and of policy debates in a diverse set of countries. The proliferation of skills around the world, increases in world trade, the growth of R&D, and the general increase in the labor market demand for diverse sets of skills, have all contributed to the emergence of high-skilled migration as a major issue. High-skilled migration is often discussed in narrow terms of brain drain/brain gain, when both the pattern of migration and its effects appear to be much more complex. However, our understanding of the effects of high skilled migration is much less than for international migration in general, and is based upon much less research and data. This paper reviews the possible effects of high skilled international migration, and the major research and policy questions that need answering.

Exceptional contributions to US science by the foreign-born and foreign-educated

This paper contributes to the debate on high-skilled migration byexamining whether the foreign-born and foreign-educated are disproportionatelyrepresented among individuals making exceptional contributions to science and engineering (S & E) in the U.S. Six indicators of scientific achievement areused: individuals elected to the National Academy of Sciences and/or National Academy of Engineering, authors of citation classics, authors of hot papers, the 250 most-cited authors, authors of highly cited patents, and scientistswho have played a key role in launching biotechnology firms. We do not claim that this list is exhaustive, merely illustrative.

Gender and Transnational Household Strategies: Singaporean Migration to China

WILLIS K. D. and YEOH B. S. A. (2000) Gender and transnational household strategies: Singaporean migration to China, Reg. Studies 34 , 253‐264. Increases in international flows of highly-skilled migrants have been characteristic of the economic globalization process. Professional and managerial employees are in increasing demand as transnational companies expand their locations of operation. However, research on these skilled migrants' movements has been predominantly linked to the firm itself, focusing on the productive sphere alone. This has led to a failure to consider the fact that migration decisions are usually made in the context of a household and that a separation of the productive from the reproductive elements fails to recognize the interdependence of the two sectors and how ‘successful' migration depends on both the workplace and the home. This paper addresses this interdependence in the context of Singaporean migration to China using material from interviews with 130 Singaporeans. WILLIS K. D. et YEOH B. S. A. (2000) Genre et stratégies ménagères transnationales: la migration en provenance de la Singapour et à destination de la Chine, Reg. Studies 34 , 253‐264. Les augmentations des mouvements internationaux de migrants bien qualifiés caractérisent le processus économique de mondialisation. Les professionnels et les cadres sont de plus en plus demandés au fur et à mesure que les sociétés transnationales étendent la localisation géographique de leurs activités. Cependant, la recherche faite sur les déplacements de ces migrants bien qualifiés s'est rapportée dans une large mesure à l'entreprise elle-même, ne portant ainsi que sur les aspects productifs. Par la suite, on n'a pas tenu compte du fait que la décision de migrer est prise en règle générale au niveau du ménage et que la séparation des aspects productifs des aspects reproductifs ignore l'interdépendance des deux secteurs et comment une migration ‘réussie' dépend à la fois du lieu de travail et du foyer. A partir de la documentation provenant desinterviewsauprèsde130Singapouriens, l'article aborde cette interdépendance dans le cadre de la migration en provenance de la Singapour et à destination de la Chine. WILLIS K. D. und YEOH B. S. A. (2000) Geschlecht und länderüberschreitende Haushaltsstrategien: Wanderung von Singapur nach China, Reg. Studies 34 , 253‐264. Zunahmen internationaler, hochqualifizierter Auswandererströme sind ein charakterischer Zug des wirtschaftlichen Globalisierungsprozesses. Professionelle und leitende Angestellte werden zunehmend in dem Maße gesucht, in dem Nationalstaaten überschreitende Gesellschaften ihre Betriebsstandorte erweitern. Untersuchungen der Bewegungen fachlich geschulter Wanderer hängen jedoch vorwiegend mit der Firma selbst zusammen, und konzentrieren sich nur auf den Produktionsbereich. Dies führte dazu, daß man vernachlässigte, den Entschluß, auszuwandern, normalerweise im Rahmen eines Haushalts zu suchen, und daß eine Trennung der produktiven Elemente von den reproduktiven versäumt, die gegenseitige Abhängigkeit der beiden Sektoren von einander zu erkennen, und inwieweit ‘erfolgreiche' Wanderung sowohl vom Arbeitsplatz wie vom Heim abhängt. Dieser Aufsatz behandelt die gegenseitige Abhängigkeit im Zusammenhang der Wanderung von Singapur nach China, wobei sie sich auf Interviews mit 130 Singapureanern stützt.

The Emigration and Employment of Irish Graduates

During the late 1980s, emigration of university graduates from the Republic of Ireland rose to unprecedented levels. More than one-quarter of the graduates were living abroad nine months after graduation, according to statistics issued by the Higher Education Authority. After reviewing the changing socio-economic background to Irish emigration since the early 1950s, the second, and major, part of the article will present the findings of a large-scale empirical investigation of the employment and migration histories of a sample of 383 graduates who left Irish universities in the mid-1980s. This survey was carried out in 1990 and so recorded approximately five years of occupational and spatial mobility for each respondent. Although the survey results do back up popular impressions of an Irish brain drain, in many respects Irish high-skilled migration is merely a subset of total Irish migration since the graduates were found to rely on traditional family and ethnic networks in choosing their destination and often their employment. The destination countries of Irish graduate emigrants closely reflected the destinations of Irish emigrants as a whole, except that graduates showed a higher propensity to migrate to continental European countries. Moreover, a lot of to-and-fro movement was discovered, indicating that Irish graduates are highly mobile and responsive to opportunities at home and abroad. Finally the theoretical and policy implications of the research are evaluated. Conceptually the Irish brain drain can be contextualized within centre-periphery theory and the notion of Ireland having a truncated labour market: in other words, as a small-scale, geographically peripheral, unindustrialized and ex-colonial economy, Ireland cannot provide sufficient challenging jobs for its graduate population, which is itself increasing. Policy-wise, educating young people for export may be hard to justify, particularly when this investment in human capital is exported to richer countries like the United States, Britain and Germany.