Human capital flight

Nearly 80% of Greek high school students are considering leaving the country as a scientific paper published in the International Migration & Integration review in October 2015.

Four in 10 (42 percent) Greeks that have migrated abroad in search of professional careers and a better standard of living say they will never return, while half of them (51 percent) say they are not willing to contribute to the Greek economy, according to an annual survey by ICAP Group.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern has said he will ask the EU to allow local entrepreneurs to give preference to "native" job candidates unless there are other suitable applications.

He has cited the need to fight the tendency of Eastern European countries "are exporting joblessness to Austria," according to Die Presse.

The exodus of hundreds of thousands of skilled workers from Bulgaria and Romania has largely helped Germany's labour market, especially in sectors such as medicine, a Deutsche Welle article says.

It cites official data from the Bulgarian Academy of Science, which estimates the country will have lost some 40 000 qualified workers "in five to ten years".

As the government struggles with pressures for additional austerity measures totaling 3.6 billion euros a year, it is missing out on tax revenues of over 9.1 billion euros per year from the departure of Greeks looking to escape the years-long crisis abroad.

Businesspeople in the Endeavor Greece network do not expect the local economy to recover for another couple of years, according to a survey by the group.

In personal crises, people often lose the ability to think, hampering their chances of overcoming the challenges before them. Something similar happens to economies. When crisis hits, countries suffer a brain drain of many of their most qualified workers.

Political instability, rampant bureaucracy and high tax rates are not only discouraging foreign investment to Greece, but are contributing to an ever- increasing brain drain, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), which has ranked Greece in 86th place among 138 countries in its report, published Wednesday, on Global Competitiveness for 2016-17.

"Literally all of my colleagues are looking for a way to leave the country," 25-year-old Ognjen Petrovic, a pharmacist from Obrenovac, told BIRN.

"There is no future here for health professionals in Serbia. It is almost impossible to find a decent job and if you find one? well, the wage is minimal," Petrovic said.

The OECD released a list that ranks countries based on the highest scientists per capita while also tracking new college degrees.