Abstract
Due to low wages and other factors, many Jamaicans migrate to experience a better standard of living. This chapter examine migration patterns in Jamaica and by extension the Caribbean region. Roughly 25,000 Jamaicans migrate to the United States of America, Canada and the United Kingdom per annum. When people migrate, the home country loses valuable human capital. A survey instrument is administered to Jamaican overseas. Several push and pull factors are identified that attract people to host nations and push them away from their place of birth. Some of the push factors include crime and violence, low wages and corruption while some of the pull factors noted include better compensation and standard of living.
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Notes
- 1.
International Organization of Migration. (2019), World Migration Report 2020. https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/wmr_2020.pdf.
- 2.
Pull factors include opportunities for better employment, higher wages, better working conditions and attractive amenities as noted by Thet (2014).
- 3.
National Immigration Forum (July, 2019) Push or Pull Factors: What Drives Central American Migrants to the U.S.? https://immigrationforum.org/article/push-or-pull-factors-what-drives-central-american-migrants-to-the-u-s/#:~:text=Push%E2%80%9D%20factors%20are%20conditions%20in,factors%20include%20violence%2C%20gender%20inequality%2C.
- 4.
The typical time spent to complete the survey was three (3) minutes on average.
- 5.
Cumulatively, it is estimated that between 2002 and 2018, migration to the US, UK and Canada have amounted to 327,431, 46a,090, and 43,806, respectively.
- 6.
Brain Drain Definition https://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Human+capital+flight.
- 7.
Corrado Di Maria Migration & Piotr Stryszowski (2006), Human Capital Accumulation and Economic Development http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.514.3533&rep=rep1&type=pdf.
- 8.
- 9.
Artuc, E., Docquier, F., Özden, Ç., & Parsons, C. (2014). A global assessment of human capital mobility: the role of non-OECD destinations. The World Bank. https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/107527/1/dp8746.pdf.
- 10.
The non-OECD share measures the share of non-OECD countries in gross emigration of college graduates.
- 11.
Artuc, E., Docquier, F., Özden, Ç., & Parsons, C. (2014). A global assessment of human capital mobility: the role of non-OECD destinations. The World Bank. https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/107527/1/dp8746.pdf.
- 12.
Mark Wenner (September, 2016) Brain Drain: A Curse of Small States? https://blogs.iadb.org/caribbean-dev-trends/en/brain-drain-a-curse-of-small-states/.
- 13.
Frederic Docquier and Maurice Schiff (March, 2008). Measuring Skilled Emigration Rates: The Case of Small States. http://ftp.iza.org/dp3388.pdf.
- 14.
Docquier, F., & Marfouk, A. (2004). Measuring the international mobility of skilled workers (1990–2000): release 1.0. The World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/14126/wps3381.pdf?sequence=1.
- 15.
Cooper, D. (1985). Migration from Jamaica in the 1970s: Political Protest or Economic Pull? The International Migration Review, 19(4), 728-745. Doi: 10.2307/2546106 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2546106.
- 16.
Migration of nurses adding to Jamaica’s COVID-19 woes. (February 24, 2021) http://radiojamaicanewsonline.com/local/migration-of-nurses-adding-to-jamaicas-covid-19-woes.
- 17.
Jacobson, J. (2015). The complexities of nurse migration. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 115(12), 22–23.
- 18.
Thompson, R., McConnell, E. S., & Corazzini, K. N. (2017). Factors shaping Caribbean nurse migration and the impact on long-term care. Innovation in Aging, 1(Suppl 1), 1211.
- 19.
Larsen, J. A., Allan, H. T., Bryan, K., & Smith, P. (2005). Overseas nurses’ motivations for working in the UK: globalization and life politics. Work, employment and society, 19(2), 349–368.
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Haughton, A., Ivey, W. (2023). Migration and Human Capital Flight. In: Overcoming Productivity Challenges in Small Countries. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23301-2_6
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