ATHENS: The loss of Greece’s brilliant minds who emigrate abroad for work “costs” the country 9.1 billion euros per year in lost tax revenues, says a McKinsey & Company survey.
The ongoing brain drain that started after the onset of the economic crisis is also depriving the Greek economy of precious human resources that would be essential for its recovery. The McKinsey report says that one in three Greek employers cannot fill important vacant posts because they cannot find people with the proper skills.
The research also shows that professionals and scientists who left Greece to work abroad are estimated to contribute a total of 12.9 billion euros to the gross domestic product of the countries they have relocated to.
According to a Kathimerini report, Giorgos Tsopelas, senior partner and managing director of McKinsey & Co Greece and Cyprus, said that it is estimated that Greece has invested some 8 billion euros into the primary, secondary and tertiary education of the people who do not wish to stay and work in the country.
Data from an Endeavor Greece study and estimates by the Bank of Greece, reveal that from January 2008 to the first half of 2016, between 350,000 and 427,000 people have fled the country in order to work abroad.
Most of the people who emigrated are professionals and scientists who are now contributing to the GDP of other countries, mainly of Germany and Britain. It is estimated that the Greek State loses an estimated 7.9 billion euros in income tax and social security contributions, as well as about 1.2 billion euros from value-added tax.
The Greeks who have emigrated have accounted for over 50 billion euros of the GDP of the countries they have moved to since 2008, Tsopelas told Kathimerini.
