Middle East 'Brain Drain' Reverses
While the Middle East has historically witnessed the emigration of many of its most skilled and educated young people to the West, the trend is now reversing as many emigres return to the region, Cale Salih writes for Al-Monitor.
Brain drain, the emigration of a country’s most skilled and educated individuals, usually to a more developed country, has afflicted the Middle East for decades. The region’s most talented individuals have fled wars, repressive dictatorships and a lack of higher education opportunities for work and education opportunities in the West.
Now there is a reverse trend, spurred by a flat job market and low economic growth in the West, and the rise of opportunities in the Internet technology and other sectors in the region.
Combined with enthusiasm for some younger entrepreneurs to return because of the Arab upheavals that began in 2011, returnees are spurring job growth as entrepreneurs, spreading skills and education, and inspiring new political ideas in the region.
Although statistics on the number of returnees are not readily available — many returnees moving back and forth several times, and working informally while in the Middle East — several cases illustrate the push and pull propelling the trend.
