The phenomenon of mobility of professionals which consists in their employment in the destination country in positions and profes- sions which are in line with their qualifications is commonly referred to as brain exchange. It is a two-way flow. In the case of a much greater net outflow of skilled labour force, we are dealing with a brain drain. An opposite trend is referred to as brain gain. However, when a highly qualified worker engages in work which requires lower qualifications and less experience than s/he can offer, we are dealing with depreciation of skills which leads to brain waste.
Chart III.7.
Level of education of Polish long-term emigrants (left graph) and level of education of Polish emigrants aged 13+ who stayed abroad for more than 2 months in the period 1989-2002.
Source: Own calculations based on the NPC 2002
In the period 1989-1991, the share of university graduates in the total number of Polish migrants staying abroad temporarily amount- ed to 9 per cent. In the period 1998-2001, this share grew to 11.5 per cent, which surely has to do with the increased interest in tertiary education in the Polish population. At that time, Polish graduates most frequently moved to: the US – 25.8 per cent, Germany – 19.4 per cent, Great Britain – 9.8 per cent and Canada – 3.2 per cent, and they tended to choose Anglo-Saxon countries more frequently than lower qualified workers. Similarly to other migrants, people with tertiary education who go to work abroad are usually young – aged 25-34. The increase in the volume of emigration of Poles with tertiary education does not yet deserve to be referred to as brain drain. In 2000, the share of Polish emigrants with tertiary education amounted to approx. 10 per cent, whereas for the Irish it was as high as 26.1 per cent, and for New Zealanders – 24.4 per cent (OECD 2006). Therefore, the growth trend in the number of migrants with tertiary education is mainly connected with the increasing intensity of migration, growing share of people with higher education in the total population and young age (up to 35 years) of migrants as their level of education is high.
incomplete primary or no school education incomplete primary or no school education primary primary undetermined undetermined tertiary tertiary post-secondary post-secondary basic
vocational basic vocational
137 When applying the above considerations to the situation in Poland, it can be observed that theoretically groups with relatively high level of qualifications should be more inclined to migrate. It would be difficult to carry out a regular study which would allow a verifica- tion of these conjectures due to the lack of representative and sufficiently detailed data, although the above-referenced statistics for Great Britain and Ireland seem to support this thesis. We can also refer to examples of groups for which the “migration as investment” theory appears to illustrate well the process of engaging in work abroad. However, the case studies presented below, which concern particular social and economic groups, cannot be considered arguments in favour or against the above theory in its strict sense.
1.4.2 Migration of healthcare workers
A relatively well-documented example of workers for whom the difference in expected salaries may play a significant role when mak- ing emigration decisions are people employed in healthcare services. Their propensity to emigrate is evidenced by data of the Ministry of Health on the number of issued certificates confirming professional qualifications. Such certificates are issued to doctors and nurses intending to work abroad(see Kaczmarczyk, Okólski 2005). The number of certificates issued should not be seen as an exact reflection of the outflow of healthcare workers abroad, however, it provides an approximation of the extent of interest in emigration. Although in most EU countries salaries in the healthcare sector are relatively low compared with salaries in other sectors, they may seem very high in relation to those offered by Polish healthcare institutions. Considering the number of certificates issued by the end of May 2005, it can be assumed that the tendency of healthcare staff to emigrate was not dramatically high, although it exceeded slightly the relevant values reflecting tendencies in the entire population –qualification certificates were issued to approx. 2.2 per cent of doctors and approx. 1.2-1.5 per cent of nurses in Poland. At the same time, considerably higher percentages were observed for certain groups of medical consultants and for some regions in Poland. The former included in particular anaesthesiologists (7.7 per cent), chest surgeons (7.1 per cent), plastic surgeons (7.2 per cent) and emergency rescue specialists (4.1 per cent). By way of comparison, the share of phar- macists (i.e. people with relatively high salaries in this sector) who applied to have their qualifications recognised abroad amounted to as little as approx. 0.6 per cent. As for nurses and midwives, more than 8 per cent of them applied for the above-mentioned certificates at the District Nursing Council in Krosno and almost 0 per cent in Warsaw. Hence, it seems that it is mainly healthcare employees in low pay areas or those who work in the less developed regions – where salaries are low and it is difficult to find additional jobs (and additional income) in private healthcare institutions – that tend to emigrate. In less developed regions, migration may be a noteworthy alternative also from the perspective of entire household, because it is less likely that income earned by spouse would compensate for low income derived from work in the Polish healthcare sector. At the same time, strong demand for employees with particular qualifi- cations (e.g. plastic surgeons) and the possibility of achieving high income abroad are of great importance.
1.4.3 Migration of students
Students seem to be a group which can benefit a lot from migration. The level of employment of young people in Poland – similarly to other NMS8 – is rather low, irrespective of their relatively high (nominal) level of education (see part I). To some extent this results from high education activity of the young which can hardly be combined with work, especially full-time work. On the other hand, it should be noted that in Poland small – in international context - share of working students coexists with high share of students in evening and part-time education(see, for instance, Bukowski et al. 2005). Low employment rate of students is probably associated with the insufficient development of the service sector in Poland because it is a service sector where young people and students are usually employed (Bukowski et al. 2005). The above applies above all to students from smaller towns. Consequently, despite language and cultural barriers, students have more opportunities to find work abroad than in Poland. . The Eurobarometer survey of 2002 indicates that students accounted for almost 53 per cent of all Poles declaring intention to migrate (Krieger 2004). However, it can be assumed that students’ migrations are mainly of short-term nature. This is so because a decision to stay abroad for a long time would entail a high risk of not completing the studies, which would lead, in turn, to the l decrease of potential future incomes and to the wasting of outlays related to hitherto education.
The above-presented mechanism of migration of young people and students is in line with the results of relevant empirical studies. They imply, among others, that students constitute a relatively large group in the total number of people arriving in Great Britain with the intention to work and that most of them engage in employment in hotel and catering services, i.e. in the same sectors in which most students from Western Europe find employment and which are characterised by evident seasonality in labour demand.
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1.4.4 Migration of university graduates
People who have recently completed studies are another example of potential emigrants . Although in Poland tertiary education graduates find jobs relatively easily, due to their scarce work experience they earn relatively low salaries (in relation to the average salary offered to a person with tertiary education). Most graduates do not yet have any family obligations. What is more, due to their young age, the rate of return from migration (if, according to plan, migration is of long-term nature) is likely to be positive (they will live long enough for potential discounted profits or losses connected with migration to generate expected net benefits). Moreover, in view of the rather high level of foreign language skills among young people (see Diagnoza Społeczna / Social Diagnosis 2005), it can be expected that in their case the adaptation process goes rather smoothly. Even if jobs undertaken abroad are not well-suited to the level or area of their education, in the short term (i.e. in the horizon of a few months), decisions to go abroad may prove very beneficial. It seems, however, that in the long term, benefits from working abroad may no longer outweigh the costs. This is because after working for a few years in Poland, tertiary education graduates would probably make a satisfactory professional career, whereas abroad an average Polish worker takes a high risk of working below his/her level of qualifications permanently, which in the long term leads to human capital depreciation and limits work opportunities abroad or after return to Poland. Thus, it is important how tight is the boundary between particular labour market segments in countries, which constitute migration destinations for young people, what are their chances for professional development and when do they decide to return to Poland.
1.4.5 Migration of the unemployed
Theoretically, the unemployed constitute one of the socio-economic groups which could benefit a lot from migration. The alternative costs of migration are lower for them than for workers because for the latter a departure abroad would be associated with change of employer and loss of income in Poland. Moreover, the unemployed are in the position to devote relatively more time to a job search abroad than workers. At the same time, empirical studies indicate that the unemployed are rather reluctant to migrate – both at the international and regional levels (see, for instance, World Bank, 2006)..
Low mobility of the unemployed can be explained by:
•
problem of structure – elderly people, who do not tend to go abroad (for reasons mentioned earlier)constitute a large shareof the unemployed population. Moreover, a large share of the unemployed in Poland work in grey economy (approx. 20-30 per cent). These people have a source of income which they might not want to give up in order to take up employment abroad.
•
liquidity problem – for the unemployed, especially those living in less developed, poorer regions, low incomes may constitutean obstacle to migration (Olesen 2002 after: Krieger 2004). Similarly to other investment decisions, a decision to emigrate may only be made on condition that a potential emigrant has sufficient funds to cover the direct costs of departure (transport, job searching and initial living costs), which may be high at the first stage of emigration.
•
problem of job search method – the unemployed are often characterised by low level of human capital. This canmake their job search less effective or limit them to local or regional labour markets. Moreover, when looking for jobs, some of the unemployed (especially low-skilled or from small towns and villages) tend to rely mostly on informal information sources (see World Bank, 2006), which largely limits the spatial range of their job search efforts. On the other hand, however, the existence of a family network in the place of potential migration is a factor which substantially increases the probability of finding a job abroad (see Box III.12).
Anecdotal information as well as quantitative research imply that the unemployed are relatively more likely to opt for seasonal work abroad rather than for long-term emigration (see Kaczmarczyk, Okólski 2005).
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19 The term “relative deprivation” in the context of migration theory was used by Stark and Taylor (1989, 1991)