Emigration from Wales is leaving a skills gap

Mar 8 2008 by Staff Reporter, Western Mail

IS LIFE in Wales really that gloomy? We have our own elected decision- making body for the first time in centuries, beautiful scenery, a thriving culture and even a rugby team that (fingers crossed this afternoon) is actually winning things.

Yet thousands are deciding that the green, green grass of home just isn’t green enough and are emigrating from Wales altogether.

During 2006, according to the Office for National Statistics, 4,000 more people than in 1997 said “hwyl fawr” and left not just Wales but the UK altogether. The total packing their bags each year is now above the 10,000 mark.

Popular destinations, perhaps unsurprisingly, were the English- speaking destinations of Australia and New Zealand. And this isn’t just a brain drain, it’s a skills drain. Professionals are leaving, but so are tradespeople, attracted by growing economies around the globe.

Some will argue that we shouldn’t be too concerned. In the 21st century movement of people around the globe is going to grow and grow, and there’s no reason why Wales should feel this impact of globalisation any differently from anyone else. Not everyone who leaves does so permanently, either.

But there is a reason to worry – there are tens of thousands of job vacancies in the Welsh economy, many of which are unfilled because of a skills gap. If people are leaving rather than staying to work here, then it really is time for policymakers to get involved.

So it’s all the more curious that, as we report today, many of those who emigrate cite better job prospects as the reason for their move. Perhaps the real reasons lie elsewhere, not in the chance of a better career but the hope of an overall better quality of life.

The latest figures come just weeks after a separate study showed Wales was retaining fewer of its graduates than the other UK nations.

The brain drain isn’t as bad as once it was; the notion of needing to get out to get on, once accepted wisdom, is rarely heard nowadays. Careers in the creative industries, in IT, in financial services, are now available to Welsh school leavers and graduates in a way that would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. But the battle to retain the brightest and the best has not been won.

No one would want to discourage people who want to travel and live abroad from doing so. The challenge is to make Wales a more enticing place to live and work – there now exists, essentially, a global market in people, with the choice of where to call home open to many more people than once it was.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan recently cited the quality in life in Wales as the country’s main attribute; he’s right, this is a fantastic place to live. If the latest statistics are anything to go by, we should be a bit less shy about saying so.