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Highly Skilled Migration from Africa to the US: Exit Mechanisms, Demographic Determinants, and the Role of Socioeconomic Trends

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Abstract

Despite increases in research on the migration of skilled Africans to the developed world, few studies have examined the specific mechanisms of departure contributing to these trends. Previous studies further contain limited analysis of how these mechanisms respond to Africa’s changing social and demographic trends. This study uses data from various sources to examine these issues. The results indicate that, in absolute terms, overall emigration flows of highly skilled Africans to the US more than doubled between 1980 and 2010. In addition, they suggest that previous arguments indicating that the recruitment of African professionals drives these flows understate the role of student migration in driving these movements. In the past three decades, more skilled Africans migrated to the US through student migration mechanisms than through any mechanism associated with the recruitment of workers. Furthermore, in recent years, the Diversity Visa Program has become the second most important mechanism through which skilled emigration from Africa occurs. Finally, the analysis finds that trends in African student emigration are highly responsive to youth population growth and that, surprisingly, the migration of skilled professionals is less influenced by African economic trends than by economic trends in the US.

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Notes

  1. Another economic-related perspective in the migration literature is the new economics of labor migration theory. It emphasizes the role of families as decision-making entities, and the need to manage agricultural-related risks, as factors influencing migration flows. There are no data that allow the examination of these influences on skilled migration flows from Africa and, as such, these influences are not investigated in the analysis.

  2. Data on visas are thus tied to the specific countries in which they are issued. For example, the total number of migrant visas for Nigeria in 1988 represents the total number of visas issued by the US embassy and its consulates in Nigeria during that year. In many African countries, these visas are typically issued to recipients who are natives or citizens of the countries in which US embassies are located.

  3. These zones are defined by the US Department of Labor. Zone four occupations are occupations for which considerable preparation is needed. These include Actuaries, Aerospace engineers, and Securities and Commodities traders. The full list of zone four is found in the following link: http://www.onetonline.org/find/zone?z=4. Zone five occupations are occupations for which extensive preparation is needed and include Anesthesiologists, Pathologists, and Surgeons. The complete list of zone 5 occupations is found in the following link: http://www.onetonline.org/find/zone?z=5.

  4. Alternatively, these trends could imply that demand for these visas also decreased.

  5. A small proportion of E visas are issued to unskilled workers. In this case, the results would suggest that E visa migrants from these countries are less likely to have the resources needed to cover the financial costs of migration.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge support for this project from Grant # HD041025 from the National Institutes of Health to the Population Research Institute of the Pennsylvania State University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, 211 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA, 16801, USA

    Kevin J. A. Thomas

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Correspondence to Kevin J. A. Thomas.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 4.

Table 4 Mean distribution of characteristics of the top 15 African sending countries of total skilled migrants to the USA for the period between 1980 and 2010.
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Appendix 2

See Table 5.

Table 5 Correlation matrix of the main variables used in the analysis
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Appendix 3

See Table 6.

Table 6 Estimates from fixed-effects regression models examining the determinants emigration through the E visa channel
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Appendix 4

See Table 7.

Table 7 Estimates from regression models examining the determinants emigration through various channels
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Thomas, K.J.A. Highly Skilled Migration from Africa to the US: Exit Mechanisms, Demographic Determinants, and the Role of Socioeconomic Trends. Popul Res Policy Rev 35, 825–849 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-016-9402-4

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