BOTH THE World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have recently released studies indicating that Caribbean countries are among the hardest hit by what has come to be called the 'brain drain', the migration of skilled professionals.
The World Bank estimate for Jamaica is 80 per cent of university graduates, which ranks us with Haiti. But it is Suriname and Guyana which lead the region, with losses of 90 per cent and 86 per cent respectively, according to the IMF data.
The outward migration of highly-trained skilled professionals is a complex issue which may be too simplistically described as a 'brain drain', which suggests a purely negative loss. Both the studies of the IMF, which are essentially economic analyses, have attempted to measure the loss to GDP from the migration of skilled professionals and the consequences to development.
The less examined other side of the coin is that developing countries with weak economic growth have never been able to absorb into productive work all of their trained nationals. And many other factors besides education are vital to make development happen. Political systems and governance, economic models, levels of corruption, security issues, and so on, must be factored into the development equation. Migration has been a massive safety valve in these conditions of weak growth and development. And as both the IMF and World Bank studies have acknowledged, remittances from migrants are a valuable source of foreign exchange, other than from exports, and help to reduce poverty. The official estimates of remittance inflow are widely acknowledged to be below real figures, much of which flow through undocumented channels.
But whatever the balance of loss of skills for development versus remittances for development turns out to be, it is clear that countries like Jamaica and Guyana have to seriously reconsider their education policy as well as elements of their economic policy. The World Bank and the IMF have both chosen to conclude that the loss of skilled professionals outstrips any gains from remittances for most Caribbean states, with the exception of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Grenada and St. Lucia, without really demonstrating how the retention of these professionals in economies that have historically not been able to absorb them would help development.
As long as borders remain open, countries such as ours caught up in the 'brain drain', will be in the business of education for export. How to manage this to the advantage of the country is the real issue. Some have suggested a deliberate policy of education for export.
The contentious issue of financing tertiary education must be reconsidered in more strict economic terms. Beneficiaries, 80 per cent of whom are going to migrate, may have to be asked to bear more of the real cost of their education. And those receiving more than basic state support may have to be bonded to give some service here in strategic areas for development.
How to channel more remittance away from consumption and into productive, developmental activities is a fundamental challenge of economic policy. Merely to document and lament the 'brain drain', which is not about to go away, is not enough.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
