Title  O Desemprego de Individuos com Formação Superior: A Emigração como uma Possível Solução (Original)
         Unemployment of Individuals with Higher Education: Emigration as a Possible Solution (EN)
Author  Sabrina Lopes
Advisor  Carlos José Cabral Cardoso
Year  2013
Institution  Faculty of Economics, University of Porto
Degree  Masters
Area  Social sciences; Economics and Business 
Keywords  unemployment, Emigration, Brain drain
URI  https://hdl.handle.net/10216/69835

Abstract 

The unemployment is a problem which affects many people, including young and qualified people. Also the emigration option is more and more common among young and skilled people, what the literature describes as “brain drain”. The emigration has various consequences, but most authors indicate more disadvantages than advantages for the countries of origin. If unemployment and emigration are a concern per se, the scenario becomes even worse when the individuals are young and highly educated, in which case the phenomenon represents a considerable lost of human capital. Currently in Portugal, most of the newly graduated people aren’t capable to enter the labour market. A study is required to examine the risk of many young people abandoning the country and explore the possible implications of that demographic trend. To examine these issues, a survey was conducted in Job centres asking a sample of 100 unemployed people with higher education about their employment prospects, and consideration of emigration as an option. The findings suggest that the respondents regard the emigration as an attractive alternative to their current unemployment status. The emigration prospect is stronger among the masculine respondents. Most of them consider doing it on their own regardless of their training area and type of unemployment. The vast majority choose destination countries more developed than Portugal, most of them plan to return to Portugal sometime in the future. This study concludes that Portugal is facing a possible brain drain phenomenon in the near future. Based on the literature, the main implications are discussed, as well as the policy measures to prevent the negative impact of the brain drain.