Pinoy S&T workers leaving in droves

MANILA, Philippines - The number of science and technology (S&T) workers leaving the Philippines for overseas jobs rose by 148 percent from 1998 to 2009, a scenario that does not bode well for the country’s research and development sector, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) reported yesterday.

A study conducted by the DOST’s Science Education Institute (SEI) shows that the number of outbound S&T workers in the Philippines increased 148 percent from 9,877 in 1998 to 24,502 in 2009.

The study, titled “Migration of S&T workers,” showed the highest outflow occuring from 2000 to 2001 when the number rose 59 percent from 11,186 to 17,756.

SEI deputy director and concurrent officer-in-charge Dr. Leticia Catris said the study found that from 1998 to 2009, more female S&T workers left the country than males, which peaked from 2000 to 2005, at a ratio of 2:1.

“Consistently there were more female S&T migrants than male ones across the years, which was particularly pronounced in 2001, wherein almost three quarters of S&T workers who left the country to work abroad were women,” Catris said.

“The study shows a grim scenario of how the outflow of S&T professionals would affect the research and development sector of the Philippines,” Catris said.

“We need more of our S&T R&D professionals to be here in our country to provide the lifeline of our research and development agenda,” she added.

The number of S&T professionals seeking jobs abroad was highest in 2009 at 24,502, followed by 2008 at 24,330, 2007 at 18,771 and 2001 at 17,756.

“S&T professionals getting out of the country were always on the rise for the entire period covered by the study except from 2001 to 2003 which saw a decrease of 31.06 percent as the economy improved over that period of time,” Catris said.

Occupation-wise, most of the S&T professionals leaving the country are nurses and midwives, with the biggest ratio in 2001 at 53.23 percent or 9,452 individuals, the SEI study revealed.

Engineers came in second with 5,308 of them leaving the country in 2008, or 21.82 percent of the total.

Other health professionals like medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and pharmacists came in fourth with 838 leaving the Philippines in 2004, or 6.28 percent.

Catris said currently the number of R&D personnel stands at 165 per million Filipinos which is way below the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s recommendation of 380 needed for economic development.

“We are optimistic that our S&T professionals will feel the need of our countrymen for R&D outputs that could, in the end, change their lives,” she said.

The 2010-2011 Global Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum ranked the Philippines 96 out of 139 nations in terms of availability of scientists and engineers.

“Though it is laudable that our S&T professionals seem to be really sought after, it is a sad fact that we are losing them. We hope that we could find ways to make more of them stay in the country and use their talent here,” Catris said.