The Negative Edge of Emigration

In recent years, the number of qualified and talented people that have emigrated has
rocketed. Normally, emigrating is thought to be a good opportunity to flee from the economic
crisis ravaging the native country and to achieve a better standard of living. Nevertheless,
this movement has not been taken into account to be sinking the country even more. As I
see it, this “brain drain” could lead these countries to their undoing.

Firstly, to better understand the issue that we are raising is necessary to define both
phenomena: “brain drain” is the emigration of trained or qualified people to a foreign country,
whereas “brain gain” is the emigration regarded as beneficial to a country's economy or
society. Unemployment, low wages and poverty are considered to be the main reasons of
this movement. Therefore, this decision is made to aim at getting higher-paying jobs, a better
standard of living, and new skills helping them to have a resume more attractive.

As a matter of fact, these opportunities may result advantageous. Nevertheless, the native
lands are experiencing a shortage of labour and qualified people.

Therefore, whereas the countries of destination view emigration as an opportunity to

strengthen their labour markets, the economy in the native lands seems to be threatened,
due to fact that it would mean an economic loss for the government after having invested in
education and training. In this way, the government of those countries might rethink how
much they should spend on higher education. Fact that would affect future generations,
since it is obvious that investing in education is crucial for long-term socio-economic
development and in order to combat poverty. For this reason, we should have the moral
obligation to put our knowledge into practice in our origin countries in order to ensure a
better future.

In conclusion, emigration undeniably has advantages, but if we run away from crisis, the
situation will not improve, quite the contrary.