Brain Drain Phenomenon in Romania: What Comes in Line after Corruption?

Abstract

Romanians’ rapidly increasing exodus over the borders, in the last years, propelled Romania to the top countries with the highest international migration rates worldwide. A rate of 7.3% per annum, recorded between 2000 and 2015, placed Romania second, after Syria (United Nations, 2016). Between 1990 – 2017, Romania registered the highest rise in the migration stock among all EU states – 287 per cent (The World Bank, 2018a). The boost of the migration phenomenon was supported by significant changes, including in the migrants’ profiles, in terms of their level of education, consequently the loss of human capital represented by the highly skilled Romanians already has an impact on the key sectors of the Romanian economy. The highly skilled manpower shortage has been a constant topic on the public agenda, especially after Romania’s integration in the European Union (2007), and after the burst of the most recent financial crisis (2008). The number of highly educated employees (tertiary education and upper secondary and post-secondary attainment) decreased in Romania, negatively affecting the key sectors of the economy. Furthermore, research shows that Romania has the lowest percentage of tertiary education graduates from the EU, with 26.3% for the age segment of 30 – 34 years (Eurostat, 2018a).
 The paper aims to show recent data on the determinant causes of the brain drain phenomenon in Romania (push factors) and to generate a classification of the three categories of mainly possible determinants: economic, socio-political and organizational factors, based on the results of an online survey addressed to Romanian high-skilled migrants.

Is Corruption the Driving Force of Migration from Croatia: Evidence from a Survey

“…Lapshyna (2014) argued that implementing measures to curb corruption were policies that were essential to stemming migration flows from Ukraine. Iacob (2018) conducted a survey in Romania and analysed pull and push factors that were driving migration from the country. The author concluded that controlling the levels of corruption in society was essential to reducing the migration of highly-skilled individuals (Iacob 2018), who also found that the salaries of participants were an important factor in determining the decision to migrate, even though the author did not consider it the most impactful in their decision to migrate.…”

“…Iacob (2018) conducted a survey in Romania and analysed pull and push factors that were driving migration from the country. The author concluded that controlling the levels of corruption in society was essential to reducing the migration of highly-skilled individuals (Iacob 2018), who also found that the salaries of participants were an important factor in determining the decision to migrate, even though the author did not consider it the most impactful in their decision to migrate. Begović et al (2020) analysed survey responses in Bosnia and Herzegovina and argued that analysis of the causes of migration from the Western Balkans is an area of research that has not been sufficiently explored.…”

International management amid fake news and corruption

“…In complete opposition to Nordic education models, corruption is endemic in Romanian schools, with teachers often bribed to grade exams more leniently or boost class grades (Borcan et al , 2017). Moreover, alarmingly high rates of early school leavers make it harder to source skilled workers, particularly given the brain drain of university graduates tempted by the higher wages offered in Western countries (Iacob, 2018).…”