CONFIDENTIAL 2 LG/MAY 2021 /ELC550/SET 1

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (30 MARKS)

Read the following article.

I Brain drain is a situation when talented and professional citizens migrate from their
home country. In geographical brain drain, talented and skilled professionals flee from
one country or region to a more favourable one. On the other hand, brain drain may
also occur at the organizational and industrial levels when workers switch jobs due to
better pay, benefits, or upward mobility within another company or industry. A significant
rate of brain drain causes loss of highly skilled technicians and educated professionals,
which eventually slows down the country’s economic growth.

II There are a few reasons that contribute to brain drain including monetary factors.
Recent studies demonstrate that the salary package in developing countries is quite low
compared to other developed countries like Singapore, the USA and the UK, and this
seems to be a ‘push factor’ for the professionals towards leaving their homeland and
for other developed countries (Bank, 2011). So, highly skilled professionals including
nurses, doctors, lawyers, and engineers are always looking for better wages when they
seek career advancement (Lim & Tan, 2015). Hence, when a particular country cannot
fulfil the wage range demanded by skilled professionals, they will choose options offered
by other regions.

III Family support plays a pivotal role in influencing talents to leave a country. Research
revealed that many young graduates prefer to work abroad to provide better financial
support for their family (Alonso, 2010; Alleyne et al., 2018). In addition, professional
migration nowadays does not limit to only males, but females as well, are encouraged
by their families to look for better working conditions abroad (Raghuram, 2017). Another
research by Raghuram (2017) found that family members often opt to migrate and work
abroad in order to stay together. For example, in some cases, the husband decides to
migrate together with his wife due to her decision to stay abroad for better career
advancement.

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IV Next, professionals very often leave their countries when they feel unhappy with the
local political climate. As such, political stability has become an important criterion for
professionals to decide whether to continue working in their home country (Zeher,
2018). In fact, Levinson (2016) believes that issues such as civil war and gender
discrimination are the main factors behind their decisions to leave. According to the
2016 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, the United States admitted a total of 1.18
million legal immigrants in 2016. These immigrants cited political unrest as the main
cause for the move.

V In the same vein, professional workers do not just look for a job to earn a living. They
also do so for job satisfaction and failure of a company to provide it will result in brain
drain (Moore & Ameer, 2017). Some companies do not provide clear promotional
structure and give staff recognition, which causes them to feel insecure and
unmotivated (Johnson, 2019). They will then look for companies that offer better
promotions and value staff contributions. A survey by the American Institute of
Professional Development (2018) shows that companies which understand the needs
of their employees would be able to retain their employees longer.

VI In short, nations have to be alert on the reasons that contribute to brain drain. Due to
the current brain drain issue, countries affected, especially developing countries may
soon face a reduction in skilled workers. Even though many governments understand
the problem, most of them decide to ignore it and this further leads to dissatisfied
professionals leaving the country.

Adapted from Factors Contributing to Brain Drain by Terry Fong, 2017, Journal of
Education, Vol. 2 (No.2) Pages 14-21. https://doi. 24924/ijelt/2017.04/v2.iss2/14.31

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 CONFIDENTIAL 4 LG/MAY 2021 /ELC550/SET 1

Based on the given article, write an annotation of about 300 words on the causes of brain
drain. You are required to paraphrase and summarise the information critically.

Your annotation should include the following:

• a reference

• a minimum of four (4) in-text citations

• an introduction

• five (5) major points

• a critical response to the author’s argument

• appropriate use of language

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END OF QUESTION PAPER

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