Russian Tech Industry Faces ‘Brain Drain’ as Workers Flee
Post by Candido Martinez. Colgate University Class of 2023.
Source: Metz, C., & Satariano, A. (2022, April 13). Russian Tech Industry Faces ‘Brain Drain’ as Workers Flee. The New York Times.
With the Russia-Ukraine war, Russians have begun to flee their country. At the forefront of those leaving are tech workers, causing Russia to experience a massive brain drain. So far, around 70,000 tech workers have left the country and another 100,000 are expected to follow. Financing this exodus of tech workers from Russia are venture capitalists and global companies who are pulling their workers out. For 15 years, the tech sector experienced growth like no other in the Russian economy but has now halted its momentum by losing the ambitious minds in prosperous start-ups who are fleeing the war. Economist Barry Ickes mentioned this exodus presents a critical long-run impact on the Russian economy because it will need to diversify from oil and gas and increase its productivity growth – which the tech industry would have allowed it to achieve.
To stop the brain drain, the Russian government offered tech workers lower tax rates, better mortgages, and promised exemption from the military draft. The prime minister of Russia stated “the motherland gave you all you need to do your work”, hoping to make tech workers feel indebted. The sudden influx of tech workers in receiving countries has had negative implications. Most notably, rent prices have increased due to the sudden high demand that the supply doesn’t match. Since tech workers tend to earn high wages and have sought-after skills, less-skilled natives will suffer more from this implication. However, with the universality of the human capital tech workers possess, receiving countries and workers benefit more than they lose from the costs. These tech workers can rebuild their lives, expand businesses and ideas across borders, and diversify the economies of receiving countries. Overall, destination countries can expect increases in innovation, education, and economic productivity in the long run from these sudden migrant inflows.
2 thoughts on “Russian Tech Industry Faces ‘Brain Drain’ as Workers Flee”
This is really an interesting article that illustrates the impact of the Russian-Ukraine war on the labor market. I really like that you not only explained how Russia is affected but also explained how the destination countries are affected. By specifically mentioning that the destination countries will gain more than they lose from the high-skilled immigrants, natives in those countries might be more willing to accept and employ immigrants. As the result, the high-skilled immigrants who fled their country might get better job opportunities and put good use to their skills. The article is very meaningful for it corrects the common misunderstanding regarding refugees and helps both the refugees and the receiving countries. Well done!
Really interesting to hear how other countries are experiencing the effects of tech workers leaving just as much as Russia. I wonder if that will encourage lower-skilled native workers in the countries they are migrating to, to get more education and move into different industries that require knowledge of their countries culture and language. I will also be interesting to see what Russia does to try and recover from losing a large portion of their teach workers, such as an emphasizes on technology in their schools.