BRAIN DRAIN – BRAIN GAIN: Spain 59 7 SPAIN: LABOUR MARKET MOBILITY AS SAFETY VALVE? Berta Moreno-Torres Sánchez, Relance Consultores Summary –– This chapter presents an analysis of recent migration flows in Spain with the aim of estimating the flow of highly qualified workers in general and in the Euro­pean Union in particular(intra-EU). The study is based upon information gathered by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics(mainly, Migration Statistics and the Labour Force Survey). –– The estimated data suggest that Spain has become a net provider of highly qualified working age peo­ple to other EU countries. Indeed, the net balance between highly qualified intra-EU immigration and emigration flows became negative in 2009 and has increased markedly in the following years(the net balance in 2013 was 124 per cent above the 2009 figure). By 2013, intra-EU highly qualified emigration flows exceeded the corresponding immigration by 35,186 people. Although the rise of non-Spanish EU citizens moving abroad largely explains the net loss of highly qualified EU people in Spain, emigration of Spanish born people from Spain(mainly to the United Kingdom, France and Germany) is gaining increasing relevance in explaining the negative net balance. –– From a national perspective, it can be argued that emigration of highly qualified Spanish nationals(born in Spain), though increasing, is not massive in abso­lute or relative terms. But fears of an emerging brain drain cannot be ignored, especially if unemployment conditions do not improve in the near future; net­work effects between Spanish emigrants are starting to function and emigration is tending to become permanent. 7.1 INTRODUCTION During the last expansionary period of the Spanish economy (1996–2006), the country attracted huge immigration flows, while emigration was negligible. This pattern changed shortly after the beginning of the recent economic crisis. The unem­ployment crisis in Spain is particularly severe and persistent (the unemployment rate peaked at 26.9 per cent in 2013, but unemployment has hit young people, at over 55 per cent, and immigrants, at around 40 per cent, even harder). In such an economic context, since 2009 migration inflows have sharply fallen, while emigration is rising. All in all, Spain seems to be in transition from massive immigration to large­scale emigration. Although the high level of emigration is due mainly to foreigners resident in Spain who are leaving the country, migration flows of Spaniards have accelerated in recent years. Moreover, their distribution is biased towards young people and more educated people. The new emigration pattern has caught the attention of the media, which is warning of an emerging brain drain in Spain. However, the extent to which emigration in Spain may be categorised as a brain drain is questionable. Against this background, in this chapter we investigate empirically the importance of migration flows of highly qualified people in Spain, thus providing evidence of brain gain/brain drain processes. The analysis is developed in an EU perspective. Accordingly, data on migration flows – both in general and concerning highly qualified people – will be presented separately for the EU(inflows and outflows of EU nationals versus non-EU citizens). The chapter is organised as follows. First, I describe the data sources used to measure migration and highly qualified migration flows. Second, I present an overview of the recent history of international migration in Spain, which makes it easier to understand more recent events. Next, I focus on recent migration flows(2008 until 2014 H1) of the highly qualified working age population in order to draw conclu­sions about brain gain/brain drain in Spain. The last section presents an overview of the main Spanish agents’ positions with regard to current migratory trends and reviews the po­tential economic and social effects of such trends.