No. 20: Migration of Skills in South Africa: Patterns, Trends and Challenges

It is a human inclination to want to position oneself where conditions are best for personal fulfilment, growth and success. People migrate because they perceive their environment as inadequate in terms of what they desire or deserve. The more deserving they consider themselves the more likely they will be to leave a suboptimal environment in search of one in which they will be appreciated – through recognition or pay – and where they can develop their potential, live securely, work towards their goals and enjoy standards with which they align themselves. Skilled people recognise that they have something to offer; they have a bargaining chip for a better quality of life. Their services or expertise are in demand and they encounter fewer hurdles in changing to a new environment. In a rapidly globalising world, skills can move further and more easily than ever before. Globalisation is offering increased opportunities for skilled people to migrate. There is a loss to the original environment when a skilled person leaves. This loss can be measured in terms of a shrinking skills base, a decreased capacity to deliver services, diminished capital, a loss of attractiveness for investment, lost potential for invention and innovation, lower transfer of knowledge and expertise and a shrinkage in the economy. There is also a social element of loss where those left behind may feel inferior and develop hostility towards those who leave. Nevertheless, it is neither ethical nor fair to expect people to curb their desire to migrate towards better circumstances – real or perceived. Governments would be illadvised to suppress such aspirations among their people. While there is a need to recoup the loss, the most obvious policy direction would be to create an environment that fewer skilled people would consider sub-optimal. This is difficult under conditions where vast numbers of skilled people are leaving or have left. However, the bulk of research within the field of the brain drain suggests that South Africa is not under undue threat and remains capable of creating an optimal working and living environment if committed to do so. In the South African context, it is essential that economic growth continues, that large investments are made in skills development and training and that attention is directed towards filling needed skills gaps. Plans should be developed to ensure that salaries of skilled professionals become internationally competitive. The participation of the diaspora should be maximised. Recognition should be given to innovators and academics who raise the standards of what South Africa is producing. Many of those who are ahead in their fields are developing brands for South Africa that will inevitably draw in greater investment for greater development. Moreover, it would be wise to engage in public information campaigns highlighting employment standards and social conditions in countries that are frequent destinations for our skilled people. The fear of comparing South Africa to other countries should be pushed back by the courage to market South Africa and highlight its development. Relying on a sense of patriotism and duty is not sufficient to keep skills or entice them back home. The human dimension must be properly considered. Are we making it worthwhile for skilled South Africans to stay in South Africa or are we leaving them no choice but to go

Campaign finance and the 2012 Presidential election

An examination of recent changes to the legal regulation of the financing of U.S. presidential campaigns (general and primary

No. 19: Irregular Migration to South Africa During the First Ten Years of Democracy

Irregular migration poses a considerable problem for South Africa in migration management, population planning, infrastructure development, resource management, governance, social services, economic development and security. A government can only work with what it knows, with a reasonable margin of error. By its nature, irregular migration creates many unknowns. Where entry into South Africa is clandestine or fraudulent, no proper account can be kept of the migrant’s presence, movement, identity, nationality, health status or activities. Without the ability to measure the problem, the ability to address it remains elusive. For years, figures on the number of irregular migrants present in South Africa have been bandied about and strongly contested. In a 1996 report, commissioned by the government, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) estimated the number at between 2.5 and 4 million, but suggested it could be as high as 12 million. The HSRC used a sample survey method to estimate the number of irregular migrants in South Africa. Going from door to door across the country, surveyors asked how many noncitizens lived on the property. The sample figure was then extrapolated and the number of legally resident non-citizens, as determined by Statistics South Africa through the census, was subtracted. This manner of survey was repeated every six months in an attempt to track movement patterns of irregular migrants. Critics of the HSRC figures include Maxine Reitzes and Jonathan Crush, who suggest that it could be as low as 500 000. In 2002 the HSRC withdrew its estimate. Nevertheless, the Department of Home Affairs quotes figures of between 2.5 and 5 million or up to 7 million. The media, not being in a position to conduct independent research, moves freely between these numbers. As the debate raged, the Minister of Home Affairs pleaded that less attention be given to how many irregular migrants were present, and more be focused on whether it is a problem and what it is costing South Africa7. As the Draft Green Paper on International Migration8 states: “Speculative assessments have also been made of the impact of unauthorised migration on our education, health-care and social welfare systems. We have looked carefully at all available figures and must declare that we have little faith in them. It would, of course, be very helpful if officials and planners had accurate statistics, but even under the best circumstances these are difficult to collect as people have an interest in not declaring their presence.

Recent b-physics results from OPAL

The most recent b-physics results from the OPAL experiment at LEP are reviewed. A measurement of semileptonic B meson decays to narrow orbitally-excited charm mesons is presented first, followed by a study of charm production in b-hadron decays. Here, B refers to B+ and B0 mesons and their charge conjugates, and b-hadron refers to the admixture of hadrons containing a b quark produced in electron-positron annihilations at \sqrt{s}= m_Z.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX, epj style (included), Proceedings of the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics EPS 2003 (July 17-23, 2003), Aachen, German

Customer service : giving your best

This is a report on the presentation "Customer service: giving your best" that took place at the Saskatchewan Library Association/Saskatchewan Association of Library Trustees Conference, North Battleford, SK, April 25-28, 1996. This session was given by Val Solash from Edmonton Public Library and was designed to help make librarians better customer service providers. Tips included realizing that that everyone in an organization has customers ("inside" and "outside" customers) and that customers have "moments of truth" when they come into contact with any aspect of the organization. In addition, a Total Product Concept model for customer service was presented, which describes "core", "expected", and "exceeded" services

Charity Tax Credits: Federal Policy and Three Leading States

Reviews the history of charity tax credit proposals, provides a summary of characteristics of the tax credit legislation, surveys three leading states that have implemented the credits, and considers key questions