Factors Associated with the Migration of High-Level Persons From the Philippines to the U.S.A.

Although all countries face shortages of professional personnel, the problem is especially critical for the developing nations, who face the drain of high-level manpower to developed nations. This study of the migration of manpower from the Philippines to the United States identifies the major factors in this exodus, improves prediction techniques, and analyzes ways to minimize emigration through improved educational programs. Out of a population of 9,613 college-educated Filipinos who studied in the United States between 1960 and 1965, 753 names were chosen through disproportionate stratified sampling of the medical and nonmedical segments of the population. After further division of the sample into those who returned to the Philippines and those who remained in the United States, usable questionnaires were returned by 66 migrants and 188 nonmigrants. The report concludes from the data that migration is highly related to attitudes toward the home country, as well as personal characteristics such as age and sex. Consequently, a short-run program to reduce emigration should involve government support of education for individuals carefully screened for attitudes and personality traits. In the long run, however, education and the climate for research must be improved so that talent is adequately utilized. (BH)