US fears OECD tax plan will push jobs to Europe

Germany benefits from brain drain

The so-called brain drain effect is caused when workers from one country or region are attracted in large numbers to move to another. According to a November 2014 research paper from the European affairs think tank Bridging Europe, three trends are observable for the EU: outward, inward and intra. Attempting to quantify the intra-EU brain drain, the report notes that since the economic crisis, there has been a brain drain from Southern Europe to Germany. Between 2011 and 2012, migration by Greek nationals to Germany increased 53%, by Portuguese nationals 41.1%, Spanish nationals by 37.1% and Romanians by 24.3%. The 'pull' factors that brought workers to Germany were the higher standards of living, pay and better quality jobs, while the big 'push' factor was the high youth unemployment rates in Southern Europe.