International migration, remittances and the brain drain: a study of 24 labor-exporting countries

The paper uses this new data set to provide some perspective on the importance of international migration. It shows how the level of worker remittances received by these 24 labour-exporting countries has increased over time. The paper also provides estimates of the total level of migration from each of the 24 study countries and shows the stock of migrants by educational level (primary, secondary and tertiary) in the two main labour-receiving regions. Finally, the paper asks: How pervasive is the brain drain from labour-exporting countries?

Three basic findings emerging from the research are:

• 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 labour-exporting countries has migrated
• for a handful of labour-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 labour-receiving countries, and the size of the (educated) population of labour-exporting countries.

[adapted from author]