Nearly Ten Percent of Working-Age Russians, Most Highly Skilled, are Employed Abroad

Paul Goble

            Staunton, October 10 – As of 2017, 10.6 million Russians, or 9.7 percent of the country’s working-age population, are employed abroad. Most of them are highly skilled, and consequently, their departure constitutes a serious brain drain that will make it harder for the Russian economy to recover, according to the World Bank.

            In a report entitled, “Migration and Brain Drain in Europe and Central Asia,” investigators reported that the number of Russians working abroad exceeded those from Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova “taken together” (finanz.ru/novosti/aktsii/utechka-mozgov-iz-rossii-prevysila-10-millionov-chelovek-1028587894).

            This outflow from Russia is more than covered by the inflow of workers from Central Asia and the Caucasus, the Bank study says; but “between emigres and immigrants, there is an essential difference: Those arriving are mostly poorly qualified workers; while those leaving are “’an intellectual migration,’” 70 percent of whom have at least some higher education.

            And this problem appears likely to get worse, Finanz.ru reports. According to a Boston Consulting Group survey, 50 percent of Russian scholars, 52 percent of senior managers, and54 percent of IT specialists want to work abroad. In addition, 49 percent of Russian engineers and 46 percent of Russian doctors do as well.

            Almost two thirds of these potential emigres are in the IT field, and 57 percent of them are under 30.  Among university students below the age of 21, 59 percent say they would prefer to work abroad rather than in Russia. Their preferred countries are Germany, Israel and Sweden, the site says.

            But even if the Russian government is successful in blocking the departure of these people in the future, the World Bank study concludes, this won’t help Russia as much as the Kremlin imagines.  “Highly qualified workers are not always productive in countries with low incomes” especially if they are unhappy about other conditions of life as well.