Big leap in 'brain drain' of Filipino science workers

MANILA, Philippines – More and more Filipino science and technology workers are leaving the country for employment offers abroad, according to a study by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Based on the initial findings of the Science Education Institute (SEI) on the Migration of S&T workers, the number of outbound S&T workers in the Philippines has increased to 9,877 in 1998 to 24,502 in 2009 or about 148%.

“Though it is laudable that our S&T professionals seem to be really sought after, it is a sad fact that we are losing them. We hope that we could find ways to make more of them stay in the country and use their talent here,” said DOST-SEI Officer-in-Charge and Deputy Director Dr. Leticia Catris.

From 2000 to 2001, the country experienced a big leap in the deployment of workers abroad from 11,186 to 17,756. From there, the number increased to 18,771 in 2007, followed by 24,330 in 2008 and 24,502 in 2009.

The study also showed that between 2000 and 2005, more female workers left the country than males.

“Consistently there were more female S&T migrants than male ones across the years, which was particularly pronounced in 2001, wherein almost three quarters of S&T workers who left the country to work abroad were women,” Catris said.

Occupation-wise, most of the S&T professionals were nurses and midwives with the biggest percentage in 2001 at 53.23% or 9,452 individuals.

Engineers came in second with as many as 21.82%, or around 5,308 engineers.

Health professionals like medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and pharmacists came in third with as many as 6.28% of the OFWs in 2004 or around 838 health professionals.

Catris said the study shows a grim scenario of how the outflow of S&T professionals would affect the Research and Development (R&D) sector of the Philippines.

“We need more of our S&T R&D professionals to be here in our country to provide the lifeline of our research and development agenda. Our country currently stands at 165 R&D personnel per million Filipinos which is way below the UNESCO recommendation of 380 needed for economic development. We are optimistic that our S&T professionals will feel the need of our countrymen for R&D outputs that could, in the end, change their lives,” she said.

The 2010-2011 Global Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum ranked the Philippines 96 out of 139 nations in terms of availability of scientists and engineers.