Why the brain in Spain falls mainly down the drain
Over the course of my three decades teaching at a business school in Madrid I have become increasingly concerned about why so few of my students are Spanish, and why my country has such a serious talent deficit.
Spanish salaries are not the lowest in the European Union, but their structure is certainly very dysfunctional. In other EU member states, emigration occurs across all social strata, and particularly affects lower-skilled workers. In Spain, it is relatively unusual for people with lower levels of education and specialization to emigrate, but is increasingly so for those with higher levels of education, who are unable to obtain salaries at home that compare with those in other countries.
I’m not an economist, but my experience is that the brightest and best graduates at my university tend not to stay and work in Spain after graduation. For foreign students coming from developed countries with similar characteristics to ours, staying in Spain would imply, in many cases, accepting lower salaries than they obtained before starting their studies, which makes no sense, even if we factor in relatively lower living costs and quality of life.
And it’s not just a problem in business: anyone who has contact with occupations such as healthcare, research or engineering, among others, will share my perspective…
