In the Philippines, a recent Youth, Employment and Migration (YEM) study finds that a slightly higher proportion of young Filipino migrants are employed in professional or skilled occupations than adult migrants. It also finds that in other respects the youth replicate the general scenario of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in terms of occupations and destinations. In particular, domestic work is also the number one occupation for young Filipino migrants. These findings have prompted some questions for further research. What is the educational background of young Filipino migrants? Are brain
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In the Philippines, a recent Youth, Employment and Migration (YEM) study finds that a slightly higher proportion of young Filipino migrants are employed in professional or skilled occupations than adult migrants. It also finds that in other respects the youth replicate the general scenario of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in terms of occupations and destinations. In particular, domestic work is also the number one occupation for young Filipino migrants. These findings have prompted some questions for further research. What is the educational background of young Filipino migrants? Are brain drain and brain waste occurring in Filipino youth migration? What initiatives could be implemented to improve the employability of the Filipino youth, either locally or abroad? This report attempts to provide some answers to those questions by situating the discussion in international and national contexts, and by examining an official government database on migration which, although limited in many respects, contains data on education - a significant variable rarely included in other databases.
In the first part, the study provides a review of the literature on brain drain and related aspects (brain gain, brain circulation and brain waste). The second part focuses on the discussion in the Philippines about brain drain and brain waste, interspersed with available data on OFWs. The third part illustrates results concerning Filipinos who registered online to apply for jobs abroad, based on the database of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). The fourth part surveys available data on Filipino youth and subsequently focuses on data concerning young OFWs. The fifth section discusses policies in the Philippines concerning young migrants and those relevant to the discussion of brain drain and brain waste. The report concludes with some recommendations for a better understanding of the impact of brain drain and brain waste on young Filipinos and for the development of a more updated policy approach towards young migrants.
Edited excerpts from publication.
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