FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG 22 3 UNITED KINGDOM: RECENT MIGRATION SUGGESTS A SUBSTANTIAL BRAIN GAIN Pawel Paluchowski and Francisco Marco-Serrano, Crystal Gazer Ltd 3.1 INTRODUCTION: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE A decision to migrate is not always easy. We shall view the motives and reasons that drive such a decision-making pro­cess as neither good nor bad on their own merits, but rather as a series of incentives generated by the environment or, in certain cases,»nudged« by environmental conditions(for example, government policies). For instance, as Eurofound(2014) suggests with regard to youth employment, a high proportion of those who change jobs can be experiencing upward job mobility and making decisions voluntarily, with no negative connotations. In fact, this type of worker is likely to engage in»job-shopping«, sampling different jobs to find the right fit. Another factor is shifts in labour market needs. The skill set of a given region and or cohort of workers in a certain la­bour market form the supply side and it is not imbalances on the demographic side that usually provoke a mismatch – for example, a baby-boom or an increase in life expectancy – but the changing nature of demand for particular skill sets. This can lead to a disconnection between domestic labour flows and economic needs, which may require the sourcing of an immigrant labour force. Not surprisingly, a Eurobarometer re­port from 2011, Awareness of Home Affairs(Eurobarometer 76.4), revealed that 42 per cent of Europeans thought»the EU should encourage labour migration from non-EU countries to help tackle demographic challenges and labour shortages« (although only 33 per cent in the United Kingdom agreed). Therefore, the results from the December 2014 wave(Stand­ard Eurobarometer 80) are alarming, because a staggering 18 per cent of the European population consider immigration an important national issue, indeed the third most important after unemployment and the economic situation. In the United Kingdom, it has become a paramount public concern, with a 38 per cent of the population mentioning it as an important national issue. During the first decade of this century, 70 per cent of the growth in the European labour force derived from immi­gration, while the share of the tertiary educated increased by 50 per cent in the same period(OECD/European Union 2014). EU27 immigrants are more likely to have a tertiary diploma than those from third countries. Internal migration in Europe has been characterised by an increasing share of highly qualified migrants. Because migration policies have become more selective, so has the proportion of highly educated immigrants likely to have to underuse their skills and competences, obtaining lower returns in the process. This contradicts the basic model in terms of which migration flows are explained, within the framework of which one would expect migrants to move to regions with higher expected returns. However, over-­qualification is a fact. Furthermore, it is not only the individu­als concerned who are obtaining less economic returns from their education and knowledge, but the host society overall. To the already mentioned problems of(i) under-usage of the full capacities of the migrant labour force and(ii) the tensions in the domestic population regarding increased migration, we have to add(iii) the problems that arise in the countries of origin of the diaspora due to the loss of talent and skill sets. According to Agunias and Newland(2012), the value of diasporas is much more than the 400 billion US dollars or so that they sent home in remittances in 2010 if we took into account their transferrable skills, knowledge and networks, which are such an important part of the knowledge-based economy. Indeed, the very term»diaspora« refers to ties to the country of origin, in contrast to migrants who lose their connections after a generation. It is in this sense that the au­thors stress the importance of national programmes designed to attract talent back home, so-called»brain circulation«. Furthermore, the authors point out the importance of co­operation with destination countries. They cite the United Kingdom as an example: the offices of the UK Department for International Development(DFID) are encouraged to con­sult diaspora groups in formulating country assistance plans. DFID recruits workers for the Senior Executive Service from diaspora members who then fill senior positions in the gov­ernments of post-conflict countries. Thanks to a programme funded by the DFID in March 2008, the NGO Voluntary Service Overseas(VSO) helped people from diaspora commu­nities to work as volunteers in their countries of origin.