Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/236646 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 9104
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a substantial increase in the prevalence of working from home among white-collar occupations. This can have important implications for the future of the workplace and quality of life. We discuss an additional implication, which we label reverse brain drain: the possibility that white-collar migrant workers return to live in their countries of origin while continuing to work for employers in their countries of destination. We estimate the potential size of this reverse flow using data from the European Labor Force Survey. Our estimates suggest that the UK, France, Switzerland and Germany each have around half a million skilled migrants who could perform their jobs from their home countries. Most of them originate from the other EU member states: both old and new. We discuss the potential economic, social and political implications of such reverse brain drain.
Subjects: 
Covid-19
working from home
return migration
brain drain
JEL: 
F22
J24
O15
Document Type: 
Working Paper
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.