Missed brain gains

It is one of the tragic shortcomings of Caribbean governance that hard data and statistics are not frequently considered, even when available, in national decision-making. Attitudes toward modern migration comprise one notable area.

As a consequence, public narratives on such matters are frequently over-populated with and influenced by uninformed official and unofficial opinions, politically flavoured intuition and mischief, isolated personal anecdotes, and general prejudice. In the process, the developmental possibilities missed are innumerable.

I have already written enough about the role of xenophobia, racism, and opportunistic political posturing in relation to the heavy inflow of Venezuelan migrants – many of them undocumented – to T&T over the last decade or so.

My commentaries have included mocking references to the “close de borders (with Venezuela) crew” and condemned the routinised stereotyping of men and women seeking a better life away from the country of their birth.

There is also the durable myth of politically engineered “small island” arrivals in time for elections in the 1950s that I have made the focus of personal research.

When I saw some responses to a proposed Caricom Observer Group for next year’s general election, it reminded me of how far a single, often repeated untruth can reach.

It is the constant lament of academics and regional and international development agencies present in the Caribbean that we live in chronically data-starved environments.

It is not that the infrastructure to focus on such matters does not exist. When it comes to migration statistics, for example, those of us with an interest in knowing more rely almost exclusively on external agencies to distill and evaluate raw information extracted from official figures.

Through this, for example, we know that in most cases, the English-speaking Caribbean, is a net exporter of migrants, unlike that period when we were arriving from elsewhere, populating our countries, and contributing to a net importation of people.

In other words: today, more people are leaving than are arriving (to stay) - the latter representing both documented and undocumented migrants, re-migrants (people returning home after prolonged absence), deportees (more of whom we shall soon witness), and intra-regional journeyers. UN data suggest that in 2020, close to 350,000 people born in T&T now live overseas.

As part of global outward migration trends, there has been a notable increase in the number of “high-skilled” Caribbean emigrants moving to developed countries. These include mainly people with tertiary level education/specialised training.

The 2010 estimate for T&T was in the order of 50 percent of our tertiary-educated/trained people. In some quarters, we are considered to be among the highest per capita Caribbean contributors to this regional “brain drain.” Add to this, the fact of our ageing population with more than 25 percent of us now over the age of 55.

Among the several things this means is that migrant inflows can contribute toward the required “brain gain” to fill important gaps in selected areas. I am certain the university folks are looking at this more closely than some of us mere journalists.

Now, having considered this, think about the political narratives surrounding the value or lack of value of Venezuelan and other migration into T&T.

There is imprecision in the manner in which state authorities have communicated this subject, and even less regard for what is provably true on the part of other political actors when it comes to things such as a significant contribution to crime statistics and a major role in the displacement nationals in the job market.

Of course, we do not stand alone in declaring the purported dangers of migrant arrivals - though they aren’t known to consume our pets. Stand by for action not far away. Plus, mere hours following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in Syria last week, there were European countries promptly shutting the door on refugee claims and wondering when those already there would ever go back home.

You never know what might happen in the Caribbean when things eventually change in Venezuela or if peace and stability ever come to Haiti.

ILO Director-General, Gilbert F. Houngbo, says in the latest global report on migration:  “Migrant workers are indispensable in addressing global labour shortages and contributing to economic growth …ensuring their rights and access to decent work is not only a moral imperative but also an economic necessity.”

The ILO report notes (and we don’t have the figures for T&T) that the disparity in employment rates between them and non-migrants in many countries owes much to “language barriers, unrecognised qualifications, discrimination, limited childcare options, and gender-based expectations that restrict employment opportunities, particularly for women.”

What are the facts of our case? Does anybody know? Does anybody care?