The return of the brains

Graduates, researchers, more or less skilled workers. More and more Italians have been expatriating for decades because of a stagnant job market.

A study by the Idos Study and Research Center, based on data from Istat and the Registry of Italians Resident Abroad, estimated that nearly one million citizens have moved their residence outside the country’s borders over the past decade. In 2015, the number exceeded 100,000 people in one year. One-third of them are college graduates. The so-called “brain drain” in Italy has been talked about for years now, and according to
Confindustria
, the phenomenon costs our country about 14 billion euros every year .

Income taxes

The situation, writes
The Post
, is trying to change with modest results, thanks in part to policies such as the one on tax relief. As of today, in fact, teachers and researchers are quite subsidized, because thanks to the Growth Decree they can pay IRPEF on only 10 percent of their income, regardless of where they move.

According to data provided by the Ministry of Finance, in 2019 there were 13,400 people interested in this favorable tax regime, and in 2020 the number had already risen to nearly 17,000. Figures for 2021 are not yet available, but it is likely to think that they will continue to grow, aided by the pandemic and more flexible ways of working.

• “Precarious employment, zero prospects and brain drain”: researchers at former Cingolani Institute write to Draghi. “Impossible to get ahead” (
  The Daily Fact.
  ).

Covid effect

Indeed, the health emergency has given many companies the opportunity to have their employees work completely or nearly remotely, thus reconciling the desire to return home but also to maintain a rewarding and well-paying job. Over the past two years, this prospect has become possible for many more people, and data once again prove it.

According to the 2021 Statistical Report on Migration, there was an 8 percent drop in enrollment in the Registry of Italians Resident Abroad in 2020. According to some experts, the university career reform the government is working on and the NRP’s investment in research will bring significant benefits (
Courier
).

• Researchers, Minister Messa at the
  Courier
  : “Single and fast career, so they will become professors.”