The brain drain: a statistical snapshot
CMAJ 2000;162:1341
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A Statistics Canada and Human Resources Development Canada study of postsecondary school graduates who moved to the US has determined that 1.5% of members of the 1995 graduating class had emigrated to the US by the summer of 1997.
Of the more than 4600 Canadians who graduated in 1995 and emigrated, 1300 (almost 30%) were graduates of health-related programs. At the university level, graduates of health programs accounted for 20% of those who moved to the US but for only 8% of total graduates remaining in Canada. Within the college-level group, 54% of those who moved to the US were graduates of health-related programs; only 15% of college-level students remaining in Canada were from those programs. The majority of college graduates who moved to the United States were nurses. Texas and Florida were favoured destinations, claiming 47% of emigrating health graduates.
The study found that graduates in health fields were highly likely to have relocated to the US for work-related reasons (87%, compared with 57% of all graduates who relocated). Greater job opportunities, both in general and in a particular field, were the factors most likely to attract health graduates to the US. Graduates in health fields were less likely than graduates of other programs to mention higher salaries as a major factor in their decision to relocate. The vast majority of health graduates who moved to the US (87%) began work immediately, compared with only 57% of all graduates who moved. — Shelley Martin, CMA, martis@cma.ca
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