Jaevion Nelson | Can brain drain ever be reversed?

Jamaica has had a huge issue with brain drain, for many years, because every year, thousands, including many tertiary graduates, leave the country for greener pastures overseas. Myriad reasons, not limited to one’s pay, exist to explain why so many people have migrated and continue to migrate. These include salary, healthcare, education, family, crime and violence, social mobility, transportation, and corruption, among others. There are some who outgrow the country or simply want an opportunity to live elsewhere and experience other cultures.

Many of us have thought about migrating at some point in our lives, especially when we are at our lowest, look at the pay cheque, or are inundated with news about murders. It is, therefore, not surprising that national, youth, and LGBTQ polls, done over the last 10 or so years, have found that a significant number of people would migrate. Most people who leave tend to go to Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The 2010 National Youth Survey found that over 57 per cent of youth in households believe that their life would be better if they lived in the United States. 52 per cent believe it would be better if they lived in Canada, and 57 per cent in England. A 2015 survey commissioned by J-FLAG, the leading gay rights organisation in the country, revealed that 74.4 per cent of LGBT Jamaicans have considered migrating.

Every year, more than 20,000 people migrate to these countries, with the vast majority of them going to the US. The 2019 Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica (ESSJ), published annually by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), shows that between 2008 and 2018, two hundered and eighty-two thousand five hundred and forty-nine Jamaicans got permanent residence or citizenship in these three countries. During this time, the lowest number of migrants to these countries was in 2008 when 23,517 people left. The highest was in 2016, with 29,223. In 2018, the number was 27,783.

BRAIN DRAIN

I must confess that I was a little taken aback by, over the last few days, at the revelation (if we can call it that) that we’re ranked particularly high – second, I believe – for brain drain in the world. It is an issue we have been contending with for a long time and clearly, have not dealt with. I remember talking about this as an issue in classes in high school (and that was many moons ago). I remember writing in 2013 that migration is the Jamaican dream. Truthfully, if you look at the newspaper archives, you see countless stories about brain drain. A December 2007 news report, in this paper, for example, said “information from the Ministry of Education suggests that approximately 2,000 teachers have left the country between 2000 and 2002” and that “20 percent of Jamaica’s specialist nurses and eight per cent of its registered nurses leave the island annually”.

Businessman Wayne Chen shared a graph on Twitter that showed that between 1965 and 2000, eighty-five per cent of Jamaica’s tertiary graduates, whose training was mostly subsidised by taxpayers, emigrated to ‘greener pastures’. On average, 70 per cent of tertiary graduates across the region migrate, with Guyana (89 per cent), Haiti (84 per cent), Grenada (85 per cent), and St Vincent (85 per cent) being just as high as Jamaica. Chen, who said he “has been talking about brain drain for over 25 years” and argues that “it is impossible to objectively discuss Jamaica’s anaemic economic growth without talking about this issue”.

OPPORTUNITIES

The situation isn’t an invitation to argue over the statistics or to pretend brain drain is a new phenomenon. Instead, it should force us to pause and seriously consider, once again, what has been done to create more and better opportunities for people – nurses, doctors, teachers, police, recent graduates, and others – so they can live and thrive here. We must resist the urge to colour every issue in orange and green and major in the minor to score political points. Who does that help when the focus isn’t the very serious issues pushing people away?

I share the view that we will never be able to compete with these rich countries offering lucrative opportunities for many of our professionals. In fact, I believe the challenge is beyond the purview of any one minister given the plethora of considerations that influence each person’s decision to leave. I also understand that some people take up job offers like teaching that do not necessarily pay well in those countries. Notwithstanding, they take the risk and eke out an existence for themselves as best as they can. Should we not ask ourselves some pertinent questions and use that to guide how we move forward? Where are we with the National Policy and Plan of Action on International Migration and Development? How much closer are we to making Jamaica the place of choice to live, work, raise families, and do business?

To address brain drain, it has to be an all-of-government endeavour, and there ought to be consensus and partnership with the Opposition about the way forward.

Jaevion Nelson is a human-rights, economic and social justice and inclusive-development advocate. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and jaevion@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter @jaevionn.