Italy, land of talents that don’t stay. As in the case of stardust, there is a brain drain from our country and, basically, around the world. This is the fate of those who cannot find satisfactory working conditions and are forced to emigrate to use their skills in more competitive markets where training and skills are recognized and valued with adequate economic compensation. According to a study by Brunello Rosa, a professor at the London School of Economics, who cites Il Sole 24ore, of the 6 million Italians living abroad, a third are skilled workers. This means that about 2 million Italians studied at our universities but then started their careers abroad in search of their fortune.

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Brain drain data in Italy

The preferred destinations are the UK and the Nordic countries, from the Netherlands to Germany, passing through nearby Switzerland.where the market is more mobile and dynamic, and salaries are higher. A real waste of resources for Italythat is losing knowledge and deprived of young people determined to build a life abroad, where motherhood is encouraged and where companies are not trapped in bureaucratic knots. First of all, qualified people pack their bags: if today about 28% of young people over 25 have a higher education, among Italian immigrants this percentage reaches 33%. This means that every year Italy loses 1% of its GDP due to the brain drain, burning up billions of investments made in human capital.

A phenomenon that has worsened over the years. According to a study by the London School of Economics, since 2015, 50,000 young workers have emigrated from Bel Paese every year.. For each Confindustria, it was estimated in 2018 that each family spends about 165 thousand euros on the education of a young person under the age of 35. If we consider the flight of 50,000 people over the age of 25 (in 2008 there were 20,000), this means a loss of 8.3 billion a year, to which we add about 5.6 in the form of expenses incurred by the state for the provision of educational services and much more. other. Investment losses of about 14 billion euros a year are a burden on the state treasury.but also on a social fabric devoid of young and vital resources. Adding to the chronic inability to retain talent in Italy is the difficulty in attracting resources from abroad. More can and should be done.