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DESPITE the relentless exit from the country of
graduates in science and technology, the Philippines still maintains
a critical mass of science and technology human resource, and its
mass of science specialists is still below the critical level of
brain drain.
According to the
soon-to-be-published “Emigration of Science and Technology
Educated Filipinos (1998-2006),” despite a “considerable
permanent loss” of manpower in science and technology, the stock
of professionals in this field has not reached the critical level.
The study was conducted by the
Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute
(DOST-SEI), in cooperation with Commission on Filipino Overseas
(CFO).
Of the 107,548 registered science
and technology professionals in the country, only 24,871 science and
technology graduates went out of the country during these years, a
mere 23.13 percent of the total science and technology pool.
Nurses getting out of the country
account for the largest number of science and technology emigrants
at 13,973, or 34.83 percent of 40,138 registered nursing
professionals during this period.
This is followed by civil
engineers (2,575), teachers (2,271), mechanical engineers (2,031),
electrical engineers (1,683), medical technologists (1,570), and
pharmacists (768).
The most favored country of
destination by emigrants is the United States of America with 17,465
science and technology professionals settling there.
This is followed by Canada
(4,947) and Australia (972) while the rest went to other countries
(1,307).
The study said the rise of
nursing graduates going to developed countries like the US is a
natural consequence of the preference of their locals for business
and careers in information technology.
“In the demand side, many
developed countries have experienced major skilled labor shortages
because of numerous factors like high demand in certain sectors and
lack of adequate training facilities,” the study said.
The study noted that migration of
engineering graduates could be due to “general trends of using
technology for increased global competitiveness and productivity by
many foreign multinational corporations, more business ventures into
knowledge-intensive industries, expansion of service sectors which
increase demand for S&T personnel, and skills shortages making
salary higher in IT and computer-related employment services.”
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