How can the European Union tackle ‘brain drain’?

euronews (in English)

Our reporter Julián López has travelled to Portugal to investigate the reasons behind, and consequences of, brain drain there - and the possible solutions being explored.

Transcript

00:00Portugal is currently not up to date.

00:02Hi, I'm Julián López, a reporter for Euronews.

00:04This week I've travelled all the way to Lisbon, Portugal,

00:07to talk to you about brain leakage.

00:12It's a real challenge, both for this country

00:15and for the whole of the European Union,

00:17especially for young people and students

00:19currently being trained on university campuses like this one.

00:24Have you heard about this concept?

00:31Brain leakage is the departure of qualified workers

00:34in search of better wages or living conditions and work.

00:38The places that host this highly educated workforce prosper.

00:43But what about the regions left behind?

00:47They become what are called talent development traps.

00:51The qualified workforce is reduced,

00:54productivity decreases,

00:56higher education is decelerated,

00:59demography suffers.

01:02This becomes a loop that forces new generations of young people

01:05to think about emigrating.

01:09According to the European Commission,

01:10this situation affects 82 regions,

01:14almost 30% of the population of the European Union.

01:20Portugal is a clear example of the current challenges

01:23and the possible solutions that are being explored.

01:2730% of Portuguese young people live abroad.

01:3170% of Portuguese immigrants are under 40 years old.

01:36To retain qualified young people,

01:39the Portuguese government has launched a plan

01:41to cut taxes on workers between 18 and 35 years old.

01:47The Portuguese government considers that this measure

01:49can help up to 400,000 young people.

01:53However, the initiative has not served to dissolve young people

01:57like Constança Pijoal.

02:05In the early hours of the afternoon,

02:07a second day of work begins for the couple,

02:09both licensed in law.

02:12They are looking for a house to rent 14,000 km away.

02:16They are about to move to East Timor, in Southeast Asia.

02:21Constança, a 25-year-old lawyer,

02:23has found a new job in a legal office

02:27with much better conditions than the one she enjoys in Portugal.

02:31They provide more benefits,

02:33such as housing subsidies, a car,

02:36a salary considerably higher than here,

02:40meaning that I will have more purchasing power than here.

02:44If we wanted to live alone, we wouldn't have one.

02:47Like many young people here,

02:49Constança and Joao see Portugal as a land of poor unemployment,

02:53low wages, high taxes,

02:56unaffordable housing and poor working conditions.

03:00In my area, there is a lot of brain drain,

03:04I don't want to call it slavery,

03:07but there is a lot of pressure,

03:09many hours of work and little rest,

03:12which is a factor that leads many young people to want to leave Portugal.

03:16In addition to frustration,

03:19I think our generation is already starting to go through this,

03:23it's getting annoying.

03:25I feel that I love my country, I really do,

03:29and for me, if I had the right conditions,

03:31I wouldn't hesitate,

03:33if it weren't for my experience, I wouldn't hesitate to stay here.

03:41In addition to resigning from his current job in a German company,

03:44Joao will have to stop training rugby, his passion since he was a child.

03:50Of course I will miss it, but as in everything in life,

03:53you have to make decisions,

03:55you have to abdicate some things in the short term,

03:58so that in the long term they are done.

04:00Joao's father, a former immigrant in Germany and the United Kingdom,

04:04understands his son's project

04:06and says he worries about the future of his country.

04:09We are sending away people with a lot of knowledge

04:13and we are importing people with very little knowledge.

04:17This is a risk not for João,

04:19this is a risk for the country,

04:21and I think it's terrible.

04:23To continue to develop society,

04:25our economy and everything else,

04:27we need people who know how to think,

04:29who are good readers,

04:31scientists, people who use culture.

04:37The youth exodus is a common topic of discussion

04:40between the couple and their friends in Lisbon.

04:44Mariana is the manager of Alianzas Comerciales,

04:47her own sister works in Spain.

04:49Portugal is currently not at the same level as the youth,

04:52now in this particular case,

04:54I did not emigrate,

04:56but it is difficult to think of a more autonomous life,

04:59I still live at my parents' house.

05:02Any of our friends has already asked this question,

05:05anyone in a family has a cousin or an uncle who did it,

05:09and it no longer appears as a big surprise.

05:12We have a very invasive population,

05:15this will create a big problem in terms of social security.

05:21Therefore, I think it was important for the government

05:24to think of a measure that anticipates this,

05:27because if this is not addressed in the long term,

05:30it will create many problems.

05:33In an attempt to face the situation,

05:35the regions of the European Union,

05:37the Member States and the European Commission

05:40are participating in what they call

05:42talent promotion mechanisms.

05:44Its effects are already visible in works like this one.

05:51At the end of 2025, this hospital in Évora

05:54will be the first hospital in Spain

05:56to have a youth exodus.

05:59At the end of 2025, this hospital in Évora,

06:02in the Alentejo region,

06:04should offer almost 500 beds,

06:06an initial investment of about 200 million euros

06:09to provide better health services

06:12to about half a million people,

06:14but also to train and retain qualified health workers

06:19in a place especially affected by the brain leak.

06:23It is expected that the region will lose

06:2530% of its population by 2080.

06:30Tiago Pereira is the regional coordinator

06:32of the talent promotion mechanism.

06:35We have, due to demographic issues,

06:38a double loss of talent,

06:40because we train less qualified young people

06:44and we are less competitive,

06:46so we can retain less talent in our region.

06:50It is estimated that by 2030,

06:52Alentejo will lose 20% of its students

06:55with higher education.

06:57We have to retain the talent we have created in the region

07:00and this infrastructure and the medical school

07:02that will be born next door

07:04are crucial for this process.

07:06When it is completed at the end of next year,

07:08as we expect,

07:09we will have health professionals

07:11that we did not have

07:13and that will have to come to our territory.

07:15We will have to have specialized technicians

07:17that we did not have

07:19and then we will have to have the training

07:21that we did not have until now.

07:23Therefore, in this micro sector,

07:25people over the next two or three years

07:28will see effective results.

07:34About a quarter of the budget for the project

07:37comes from the European Regional Development Fund.

07:40Regional, national and European authorities

07:43expect that the hospital and the training center

07:46create up to 2,000 qualified jobs here.

07:51For more information, visit www.ilo.org

07:54www.ilo.org

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