High tax on University workers encourages emigration. Columbia University
צילום: איי פי
Employment issues main cause of brain drain
High tax in Israel, better job offers abroad main factor for many academics to emigrate. In most cases security situation not primary factor. Scientists, doctors, others with degrees emigrating in droves
How accurate are the rumors about "brain drain" from Israel? Who is leaving the country – academics, the hi-tech community, others? And what motivates them to do so? A new study presented Wednesday in a Science and Technology Committee meeting in the Knesset, reveals that 81 percent of Israelis emigrated as a result of business problems and unemployment. Security considerations were ranked as a much lower priority.
The study provides statistics about international emigration of educated workers - a "brain drain" of Israeli academics to other countries. The high rate of taxation and cost of living in Israel constitute the primary reasons for brain drain.
The study indicates the security factor has less of an effect on the decision to emigrate than the employment factor. Participants in the study were asked to list the factors that influenced their decision to leave the country. Eighty one percent of emigrants indicated unemployment as a relevant influence; 75 percent stated the high cost of living, with 71percent pointing at a spouse's job as the cause; 66 percent indicated the high taxation, while only 65 percent mentioned the security situation; 43 percent said that rate of minimum wage was a factor.
As evidenced by the results, the economic factors play a much more significant role in the decision than the security factors.
The study was undertaken by Eric Gold and Dr. Omer Moav from the Shalem Center and assessed the emigration between 1995 to 2002 based upon measures of education, income, employment, family situation, and time in Israel. The study surveyed 320 individuals who emigrated from Israel and its results indicate that economic factors, particularly high taxation and cost of living, are the factors that most influence brain drain.
More likely that the educated will be the emigrants
According to Dr. Moav, "until now, there were only estimations regarding emigrants from Israel. The problem with emigration is more severe than it appears. As bad as it is that people emigrate, it is more severe and significant when educated people emigrate… Individuals with BAs and MAs are leaving in droves, in particular scientists. Those with barely a high school diploma rarely leave the country. This is why it's called a brain drain."
An emigrant is defined as an individual who left Israel for a whole year. The study erred on the conservative side and looked on at emigrants who had lived abroad for at least three years. According to Moav, "regardless of this, the gap remained the same."
He added: “There is a strong tendency among Israel to choose to emigrate to the US. There is a decided trend for students who go study in the US not to return. There is a general problem in Israel, and so individuals with a degree, individual with entrepreneurial skills, go to the US because they can succeed better there. The taxes in Israel are high. In terms of taxation, Israel is one of the worse countries in the world to live in."
Publications from the central bureau of statistics from September 2005 prove that in the past year, there has been a significant increase in the number of emigrants in comparison to previous years. In 2005, emigrants numbered more than 25 thousand in contrast to an average of 19 thousand from 2002 to 2004.
Moav claims that the high tax on University workers encourages emigration. In the US, competition among institutions of higher learning dictates relative income. As such, a PhD from a university in the US may enjoy a starting salary of USD190, 000 a year, including grants. Therefore, Israeli students who earn a doctorate in Europe or North America often turn down job offers from universities in Israel, despite their desire to live in Israel, because of the huge difference in potential salaries.
Zeev Arbelt, age 28, a fourth year doctoral student at NYU in New York, starting his doctorate in Israel and then was accepted to studies in the US, on full scholarship. "I chose to study in the US because the best economics programs in the world are now in the States. In Israel, there are no programs built in the way that they are built here. Here they really nurture the doctoral students. Everyone talks about Israel and about Israeli researchers, but the bust experts in economics all come to the United States."
In Israel, university salaries are based on personal grants and the difference in salary between successful and less successful researchers or between researchers in more popular topics (i.e business, economics, law and medicine) can be vast.
"It turns out that our best minds receive tempting offers abroad and Israel can't compete. The fact that Israeli minds are publishing patents abroad should bother the nation's leaders extremely" said Science and Technology Committee Chairman MK Zevulun Orlev (NU-NRP), who initiated the meeting.
