An Arab brain drain?

A recent survey from Doha on the Middle East has indicated that a region-wide brain drain is on the horizon, as the population gets younger and there are fewer jobs to go around. Those with the best educations are opting to leave home and immigrate - more than 25% of Arabs with some college education want to move abroad, and nearly 33% of young employed Arabs say they would like to permanently leave their country. Only 17% of unemployed youth said they would like to immigrate.

A damaging effect of this is the potential for corresponding entrepreneurship drains and innovation drains. The bureaucracy in place already makes it very difficult to start a small business, and if young people feel that their ambition is stifled, it could lead to incredible domestic problems, especially when 2/3 of the Arab world's population is under 30.

Among the concerns, there may be cause for hope:

“We’re not dealing with a population that doesn’t know what the gaps are,” he said. In the index, young Arabs called for more education and training, better access to job placement and business development services, and a more responsive government.

“Young Arabs know exactly what they need, they just can’t find what they’re looking for,” added Mr Younis, who recommended greater co-operation among the 22 Arab nations surveyed.
“If young people are given the resources to succeed in the economic life of their country, they would rather stay in their home country than leave permanently.”

What do you think?