Today I look at “The Brain Drain” – the net loss of skilled people to out-migration; particularly the under-40s – and the impact this has on the Welsh economy and society.
It’s something the powers that be in Wales accept is a problem, yet have done little to date to address.
Stressing that this is under the banner of “Devil’s Advocate”, this piece will argue that a “Brain Drain” from Wales is unavoidable and – if for purely self-interest by those who move away – would be wrong to interfere with.
The overarching solution would be for the “pull” factors to outnumber “push” factors consistently for all talented young people across the country. That’s a tall order.
We wouldn’t necessarily need independence to do that. Though independence may – with the right economic and social policies – go some way towards addressing it.
For example: new housing policies (devolved), strengthened constitutional rights (non-devolved), a completely new welfare state (non-devolved), tax changes (mainly non-devolved), new childcare policies (devolved), and general quality of life improvements in terms of social opportunities (i.e. investment in sport, culture and leisure), transport and education.
There are some “tougher” measures available too – namely discouraging emigration.
That could include measures such as not providing as much financial support to students attending universities outside Wales and focusing on investing in Welsh universities. Another measure would include applying “golden handcuffs” to newly-qualified professionals (where they have to remain and work in Wales for a set period in exchange for student loan forgiveness etc.).
It’s worth stressing though that measures to restrict or discourage emigration would only treat the symptoms not the underlying causes.
To address the causes, difficult choices would need to be made in terms of economic policy. For example, focusing on the quality of jobs rather than quantity and not picking favourites in terms of which sectors to back (as innovation can come from anywhere, in principle). That would go against 50+ years of ingrained economic development policy making in Wales.
There are also the old chestnuts of Wales’ “Missing Mittelstand” – a lack of medium-sized, locally-owned companies – as well as revisiting Wales’ policies on inward investment and corporate subsidies. In short, maybe we should start investing in people, skills and ideas, not individual businesses.
