The concern is that Canada's brightest minds are defecting to the U.S. where pay is higher, taxes ar

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What is The "Brain Drain?

• The concern is that Canada's brightest minds are
  defecting to the U.S. where pay is higher, taxes
  are lower, and opportunities are abound
• The threat is that with the loss of these highly
  educated and skilled workers from Canada to the
  U.S., the global competitiveness of our country
  will be compromised, and our standard of living
  will decline
• WHAT ARE THE FACTS?

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The Brain Drain Has Been An Issue For Over 100
Years

• Editorials on the subject have been written as
  far back as in the 1920's in Maclean's magazine
• According to the Swiss business school IMD,
  over-all, Canada ranks 10th out of 47 countries
  in the world for competitiveness
• According to the United Nations, Canada remains
  the most attractive country in the world for
  immigration

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The Proportion of Skilled Canadians Moving To The
U.S. Has Steadily Declined Over The Last 100 Years

• "Since the beginning of the century the migration
  from Canada to the U.S. has been moving steadily
  downward" (J. Helliwell, UBC, 1999)
• From 1982 to 1996, relative to the increase in
  the Canadian population, the number of managers
  and professionals moving to the U.S. from Canada
  has actually declined

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The Proportion of Skilled Canadians Moving To The
U.S. Has Steadily Declined Over The Last 100 Years

• "The recent net emigration flows to the U.S. are
  up only very slightly and the level is well below
  that in the 1950s and early 1960s" (A. Egelton,
  Bank of Montreal, 1999)

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Over The Last 30 Years, There Has Been A
Substantial Brain Gain From Europe, Asia and The
Third World

• From 1990 to 1996 on an annual basis
• 8500 university educated people moved from Canada
  to the U.S. (total emigrants was 21,731)
• 32,800 university educated people moved into
  Canada (total immigrants was 230,581)
• The immigration/emigration ratio for university
  educated people was 2.6 (total migrants was 10.6)

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The Skills of New Emigrants To Canada Are
Comparable To Those Leaving Canada

• In examining the high tech sector, Statistics
  Canada found that the computer scientists
  immigrating into Canada possessed skills
  comparable to their Canadian colleagues.
• Often the brightest and best of other countries
  come to Canada for advanced education and try to
  stay when their training is completed

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A Relatively Small Proportion of Canada's
Skilled Work Force Moves To The U.S.

• The emigration to the U.S. of physicians, nurses,
  scientists, engineers and managers is between 1-5
  out of 1000 people in total according to
  Statistics Canada
• In 1995, only 1.5 of the more than 300,000
  Canadians who graduated from university or
  college moved to the U.S. after graduation
  according to Statistics Canada

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The Major Reason Why Recent Graduates Move To The
U.S. Is Lack of Job Opportunities in Canada

• Of the Canadian graduates in 1995 that moved to
  the U.S., 57 did so to pursue work opportunities
  (17 relocated for marriage or relationships)
• The unemployment rate is about 4 in the U.S. and
  8 in Canada
• Interestingly, Canadian companies have difficulty
  in finding highly skilled employees

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Many Ph.D. Graduates Go To The U.S. To Obtain
Post-Doctoral Training

• Of graduates moving to the U.S. in 1995
• 23 left for educational purposes
• 20 were from health-related fields
• 12 of all Ph.D. graduates migrated, most
  commonly to California
• Foreign training of post-doctoral fellows is
  critical for bring new technology and skills into
  Canada

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Many Emigrants To The U.S. Do So For Higher Wages

• 40 of the recent Ph.D.'s that moved to the U.S.
  claimed that they did so for higher wages
• In an ITAC study, the salaries of the earners in
  the top 25 in six separate categories of
  employees in the software industry were examined.
  After adjusting for the stronger purchasing power
  of the U.S. dollar, Canadian software developers
  and help desk technicans were earning 13-21 more
  than their U.S. counterparts. Only Web sites
  designers were paid 19 less.

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Migrants Do Not Move To The States Because of
Lower Taxes

• Of the Canadian graduates in 1995 that moved to
  the U.S., "an insignificant proportion of
  graduates explicitly said that lower taxes in the
  U.S. were a factor that attracted them to work
  there"
• According to a recent Standard and Poor study,
  once the costs of private-sector health and
  educational services, which are principally
  publicly funded in Canada, are added to the U.S.
  tax bill, there is no difference in the overall
  tax burden.

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Migrants Do Not Move To The States Because of
Lower Taxes

• The Paris-based Organization for Economic
  Co-operation and Development reported that in
  1998 the disposable income of families earning
  the average industrial wage, expressed as a per
  cent of gross pay, is higher in Canada than the
  U.S.
• "In 1995, the median family in Canada had
  CDN30,200 to spend after taxes, compared to
  CDN29,500 for the median U.S. family."

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Migrants Do Not Move To The States Because of
Lower Taxes

• For wealthy and highly educated Canadians the
  federal and provincial tax rate is about 50. The
  U.S. federal tax rate is about 40, and 47 of the
  States levy personal income taxes that average
  7. So there really is not much difference in the
  tax rate.

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Data In Support of An Explosion Of Recent
Temporary Visas Issued To Canadians Is Unreliable

• According to a recent report from the Conference
  Board of Canada, the number of U.S. work visas
  issued to Canadians has quadrupled in the five
  years ended in 1998
• In 1996, there were 26,794 American work visas
  issued to Canadians and 13,337 visas issued by
  Canada, indicating a net out-flow of 13,457 that
  year

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Data In Support of An Explosion Of Recent
Temporary Visas Issued To Canadians Is Unreliable

• The American Immigration and Naturalization
  Service gathers data on temporary work visas and
  counts multiple border crossings. Each time an
  individual that crosses the border (except by
  car) for any reason, he is re-counted as another
  temporary worker
• Canada counts visas issued to Americans on a
  first entry basis only

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There Is No Significant Drain of Talent From
Canada

• According to a report released on July 13, 1999
  by the Canadian Association of University
  Teachers, most evidence for the brain drain are
  selective anecdotes
• "Only a very small number of highly educated and
  skilled workers are emigrating to the U.S. This
  outflow is small relative to historical trends,
  small relative to the overall stock of skilled
  workers, and offset by a huge brain gain from the
  rest of the world."

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