so Italy scores its own goal and loses 1% of GDP – Corriere.it

Every year Italy loses 1% of GDP due to brain drain burning billions of investments made in human capital. According to a study by Brunello Rosa, professor at the London School of Economics, quoted by Il Sole 24 ore: out of 6 million Italians living abroad, one third falls into the category of skilled workers. We are therefore talking about 2 million people who have studied in Italy and who have undertaken (or have been forced to seek) a career across the border. If today about 28% of young people over 25 have a degree, among Italian expats the percentage reaches 33%.

Among the reference destinations the United Kingdom but also the countries of Northern Europe from the Netherlands to Germany via the nearby Switzerland. The young Italians therefore chose countries with a less rigid labor market and, trivially, where the wages offered were higher. A loss of knowledge and potential that also affects the entrepreneurial fabric. As La Voce writes: Young people with high levels of education are the group of the population most likely to become entrepreneurs; in the Italian case, however, they are also the group of the population with the highest emigration rates.

A phenomenon that of brain drain that has worsened over the years. According to a study by the London School of Economics since 2015, 50,000 young workers have emigrated from Italy every year. In terms of investment loss for our country, we are talking about 14 billion euros a year in smoke. In more detail, the study refers to Confindustria data from 2018, for which the costs incurred by a family to raise a child up to the age of 25, studies included, are approximately 165 thousand euros. If we consider an escape of 50,000 over-25s (there were 20,000 in 2008) it means having lost 8.3 billion a year to which we add up around 5.6 in costs incurred by the state to offer education services and more.

We are therefore talking about 1% of GDP burned, if in addition to education we also look at the health care costs offered by our country. All due to the inability of the Italian system to offer professional growth prospects to the new generations and better educated young people. Own goal to which is added the still low ability to attract talent from abroad.