Samoa has topped the list of countries with the most number of people leaving as part of the “human flight and brain drain” index compiled by the business and economics website TheGlobalEconomy.com.
Samoa Observer reports that Samoa received a ten on the list of 177 countries included in the survey.
The Ministry of Commerce Industry and Labour said in April this year that close to 6,000 Samoans were in Australia and New Zealand under the seasonal workers programs.
The index ranks countries based on data collected between 2007 and 2022. Australia was the least affected by brain drain, receiving the lowest score of 0.4.
Global Economy said it arrived at its index indicator for each country by examining available data between 2007 and 2022 from a wide range of sources, including national authorities, the World Bank, United Nations (UN), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The average for 2022 based on 177 countries was 5.21 index points. The highest value was in Samoa: 10 index points and the lowest value was in Australia: 0.4 index points.
According to the report, the human flight and brain drain indicator considers the economic impact of human displacement (for economic or political reasons) and the consequences this may have on a country’s development. The higher the index, the greater the human displacement.
The report also stated that this may “involve the voluntary emigration” of the middle class – particularly economically productive segments of the population, such as entrepreneurs, or skilled workers such as physicians – due to economic deterioration in their home country and the hope of better opportunities farther afield.
“On the other hand, it may involve the forced displacement of professionals or intellectuals who are fleeing their country due to actual or feared persecution or repression, and specifically the economic impact that displacement may wreak on an economy through the loss of productive, skilled professionals.”
Two of the country’s largest employers raised concern on the labour drain.
The Ah Liki Wholesale Business Development Manager, Clyve Westerlund said the staff losses were “significant”.
“Around 25 per cent for wholesale itself, which for any organisation is significant and there are probably other organisations that have had it even worse off than us,” he told the newspaper.
The same sentiments were expressed by Frankie Wholesale General Manager, Niran Bala, who said they also lost a significant number of workers to the seasonal work programme, but the impact to the company has been minimal, as they were just “temporary staff” prior to their exit.
