Severozápad attracts fewer skilled workers than most regions in Europe

The battle for talent within the EU is a story about both brain drain and gain. Of the 17 million people aged 15–64 migrating within the EU1, around 4.5 million are highly skilled workers and students. Factors known for attracting these people from their home regions are economic growth, higher wages, robust social security, linguistic and cultural similarity, relatively easier access to the labour market and higher employment rates.2

In contrast, the brain drain phenomenon arises when a region can not compete and suffers a permanent loss of skilled workers or students.

Severozápad is a region with almost equal in- and out-migration. In 2017 the net migration rate was 0.0 persons per 1,000 inhabitants.

A positive net migration means that more people are moving in, than out. A negative value means that the region is losing population. Net migration includes, in this case, both domestic and international movement.

Receiving regions are generally found in northern areas of the EU, e.g Sweden, Ireland, Estonia, Denmark and the UK.

The battle for the brains

The nature of the migration flows differs considerably across Europe. Some regions attract and gain highly educated workers, while others lose them. In this section we look closer at the education level of the newcomers, compared to the domestic population. Do the migrants4 affect the supply of skilled labour?

These are some of the key findings for Severozápad:

  • Europeans that have moved to Severozápad generally have a lower education level than workers born in Czech Republic (10 percent of EU movers had higher education, compared to 13 percent in the workforce as a whole).
  • This level makes Severozápad one of the least favoured recipients in Europe of highly educated migrants. 5
  • In the past ten years the education level among EU migrants in Severozápad has risen slightly (+3 percent points). In Czech Republic the trend is increasing even more.
  • In the same time the education level among the whole workforce in Severozápad has also increased (+7 percent points).
NUTS regions in Czech Republic with the highest and lowest education level of EU migrants
RegionShare of EU migrants that have higher education
1.Praha55%
2.Jihovýchod46%
3.Strední Morava28%
4.Severovýchod19%
5.Moravskoslezsko17%
6.Strední Cechy15%
7.Jihozápad12%
8.Severozápad10%

Higher employment than domestic workforce

In general, highly educated workers in the EU that have moved to another EU country find employment at more or less the same level as the domestic workforce.

In Severozápad the employment rate for highly educated newcomers is higher than the rate for workers born in Czech Republic (100 percent compared to 85 percent among all educated workers in Severozápad).

regions in Czech Republic with the highest and lowest employment of highly educated EU workers
RegionEmployment level among highly educted EU workers
1.Severozápad100%
2.Strední Morava94%
3.Strední Cechy93%
4.Moravskoslezsko87%
5.Praha86%
6.Severovýchod73%
7.Jihovýchod71%
8.Jihozápad69%
The unemployment data is from 2018.

What about the future? Reports on the modern knowledge economy say that high skilled immigration will continue to boost economic growth in the attractive regions. Income differentials combined with differences in living standards between regions will remain the primary driver of economic migration. The demand for skilled labour is robust. By 2025 nearly half of all new expected job openings in the EU is expected to target highly qualified workers6.

Definitions

In this report brain drain is defined as a region's loss of individuals with high skills and/or competencies (workers/students) due to permanent emigration. Note that we measure the education level of all residents, not just recent migrants.

“Highly educated”, “highly skilled” etc refers to individuals with tertiary education (ISCED11 levels 5–8) aged 15 to 64 years.

1 These numbers are from 2017 and include both domestic and international migration.

2 “Addressing Brain Drain” by European Committee of the Regions, 2018

3 “The Geography of New Employment Dynamics in Europe” by the ESPON project, 2017

4 Here we compare the education level of workers born in another EU country to, the education level of the total workforce of each region.

5 This conclusion is based on a comparison of the education level of EU movers in Severozápad to the education level of EU movers in other NUTS regions in Europe.

6 “The Geography of New Employment Dynamics in Europe”, by EPSON, 2017

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