However, Britain, which did open its borders to the new EU countries, seems to have benefited. A recent study undertaken by Christian Dustman, professor of economics at UCL, demonstrates that the new wave of immigrants significantly benefited the UK fiscal system. In the last tax year 2008-2009, the immigrants contributed in direct or indirect tax 33 per cent more than they received from any public service. An amazing result especially when compared with the 20 per cent negative contribution for native Brits. According to Professor Dustman, interviewed in the FT, these new immigrants are “60 per cent less likely than natives to receive state benefits or tax credits, and 58 per cent less likely to live in social housing”.

Another myth busted by this study is that immigrants continue to invade Britain. In 2008, 56,000 of these immigrants left the UK, against 25,000 in 2007. This is confirmed by Tim Finch, head of migration research at the Institute for Public Policy Research, who declares “it is the first time we have anything more than anecdotal evidence that people are going home in quite big numbers” with “signs of immigration tailing off”. Thus, far from destroying Britain’s welfare state, the new immigrants have greatly contributed to the country’s economy and many are actually returning home; proof that the Polish plumber was not so bad.

Beware of populism

Populism is a chronic disease of contemporary politics. A complex problem is given a simple and straightforward explanation in the form of a vote-winning slogan. In the case of immigrants, they are accused, among other allegations, of destroying the welfare state. However, the British example demonstrates that a well regulated immigration framework can be far from negative for a country’s economy, as it can bring many positive results.

The Sunday Telegraph - Now printed daily in Spain

We have an article here about newspapers for expats and other types of expatriate media.

The latest Human Development Report for 2009, released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), comes to a completely different conclusion on migration: According to the reseachers, migration cannnot only enhance human development for those who move, but also for their destination communities and for those who remain at home.

Only a few migrants move to developed countries

An overwhelming majority of migrants move within the borders of their own country. According the report, there are 740 million (around 11 per cent of the world population) internal migrants in the world. 214 million, or 3.1 per cent of the world’s population, are international migrants. Out of those, only 37 per cent move from developing to developed countries, while a majority of 60 per cent international migrants move to countries in the same category of development.

Economic migration is a triple win

Those migrants who move to developed countries mostly do so for socio-economic reasons. The report found those from the poorest countries, on average, experienced a 15-fold increase in income, a doubling of school enrolment rates and a 16-fold reduction in child mortality after moving to a developed country.

However, the migrants themselves are not the only ones to profit from the move. In 2008, migrants sent more than 300 billion US-dollars to their families in their country of origin. The amount of remittances that migrants send home are thus four times greater in volume than development aid from all donor countries combined.

The third winning party are the destination countries receiving migrants. Contrary to commonly held beliefs, migrants typically boost economic output and give more than they take. According to the report immigration generally increases employment in host communities, does not crowd out locals from the job market and improves rates of investment in new businesses and initiatives. Almost all migrants make a contribution to economy and society by paying taxes, expanding the demand for goods, adding to national production and, supporting pension and health care systems, which is especially important for developed countries with an aging population.

Whatever the public perception is, migration is here to stay: “With recovery, many of the same underlying trends that have been driving movement during the past half-century will resurface, attracting more people to move.” says Jeni Klugman, lead author of the report. The UN therefore calls for a “new deal of migration” to lower barriers to movement and improve policies towards those who move.

Most Popular Destinations for British Expatriates

16% of British expatriates currently live in France, with Spain in second place with 10% of the total. The most popular overseas destination for people to move to outside of Europe was the USA at 8%. Australia, Switzerland and Germany came in joint 4th place at 4% of the total each.

British Expatriates Living In France

Over two thirds (67%) of British expatriates living in France are aged 55 and over. Nearly one third (32%) are aged between 55 and 64 years of age. This shows a that a large percentage of these expatriates have chosen to spend the later part of their lives in France. Maybe the famously love/hate relationship between the English and the French is a myth, because an estimated 115,000 French people live in the UK (~8% or so of the total French expatriate population).

Age of British Expatriates Living In France

Of those British expatriates living in the USA, half (50%) were aged between 45 and 64. Compared to France this is a relatively younger population pointing to a higher percentage of professional expats.

Age of British Expatriates Living In USA

According to Employee Benefits, employers have traditionally paid as much as 60% of expat employees´ salaries in the currency of their host countries. Sudden changes in exchange rates have left many expats short of funds in the past year, however, and only recently have employers begun to compensate with new salary calculation strategies.

Mercer (a major HR consultancy) reports that employers should review exchange trends carefully and set “trigger points” for expat salary increases. These triggers can be related to anything from currency inflation to devaluation. The difficulty has proven to be deciding where exactly to set trigger points. Frequent salary changes can lead to communication backlogs and general confusion, while inadequate salaries leave expat employees unsatisfied and underpaid.

The Mercer report suggests that “expatriate compensation adjustment should occur only after a change to the home base salary, a change in family situation or significant exchange rate and price fluctuations,” and that any recalculations should occur at the end of the fiscal year unless they are absolutely necessary. While international companies would probably do well to head Mercer´s expert advice, this could mean more delays in salary increases for cash-strapped expats.

Nonetheless, the New York Times noted recently that both the French and German economies have shown some some growth, and that the Japanese economy reported its first growth in four quarters in August. Hopefully these bright spots signal positive developments for the world economy, and for expat employers and their employees in particular. For some additional info on expatriate compensation, check out our information on worldwide expat salaries.

Deutsche Auswanderer-Statistiken

Mehr als 150.000 Deutsche wandern jährlich aus, und vor allem junge und hochqualifizierte Deutsche zieht es zunehmend ins Ausland. Während in Deutschland die Diskussion um einen potentiellen “Brain Drain” brandet, sind die Daten zur Anzahl und Motivation deutsche Auswanderer eher dünn gesäht. Unsere neue Analyse deutscher Auswanderer fasst die wichtigsten Marktdaten zur deutschen Auswanderung zusammen, einschließlich des demographischen und beruflichen Hintergrunds deutscher Auswanderer sowie deren Motivation für einen Umzug ins Ausland.

To understand this better, it is useful to have a idea about how companies go about calculating compensation for expatriates. One of main factors is something called the ‘hardship allowance‘, which can be defined as the:

premium compensation paid to expatriates who experience – or should expect to experience – a significant deterioration in living conditions in their new host location.

Roughly translated, this means that the worse the place is, the more you get paid. So, how do you judge one destination against another? One of the main benchmarks which can be used are quality of living indices. There are a few of these created by different organisations. A good place to start is Mercer (which is one of the largest HR consultancies in the world) – a lot of the information is subscription only, but there are some useful articles and information on the site.  In their 2009 Quality of Living Survey, they have some interesting information which can also be used by expats when evaluating pay and prospects when moving from one country to another. For further information, you can also have a look at our analysis of expat salaries.

Best quality of life for expats

Mercer evaluated the following cities as having the best overall quality of life for expatriates:

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Geneva, Switzerland
4. Vancouver, Canada (tied 4th)
5. Auckland, New Zealand (tied 4th)

The worst places to go and work in included Bagdad, Brazzaville and Khartoum – for pretty obvious reasons!

Where is the crunch causing the most damage?

Residents in the US, Thailand and South Africa have identified the largest changes in their spending and saving patterns. The largest reduction in day-to-day items was shown by 81% of expatriates in Spain cutting back on spending for day-to-day essentials, with the US (79%) and the UK (75%) close behind.

Going home?

15% of all expats surveyed are considering going home. A massive 44% of all Expats surveyed in the UK are doing so and 23% of those in the US are thinking the same.

Paul Say, Head of Marketing and Communications for HSBC Bank International said,

As the world continues to undergo a significant economic shift, we are seeing some interesting patterns amongst the expat population, particularly in the changes to their spending habits. Despite expats in the UK and US considering a move home we also found that the majority of expats are staying put despite growing employment uncertainty across many regions.

Is there anywhere still looking OK?

Emerging markets seem to be the most promising on pure economic measures. 30% of expats surveyed in Russia are earning more than $250,000/year. Other high-earning destinations (with % earning $250k+ in brackets) were: Hong Kong (27%), Japan (26%), Switzerland (25%) and India (25%). The global average is 16%

Expats save more

68% of expatriates say they save more than at home. Russia (97%) and Qatar (98%) have the highest saving rates. Only 14% of expats say they save less than at home. On the investment side of things and despite falling prices, 46% of respondents still invest money in property.

Read the report in full:  http://www.offshore.hsbc.com/expatexplorer

The next question is obviously how big this market is. According to UN statistics, 177 million people worldwide lived in a foreign country in 2005, and this number is likely to increase to more than 200 million in 2010. These include expatriates that are sent abroad by their company for a limited time, international students, long-term immigrants and pensioners that choose to move abroad for lifestyle reasons.

To shed a little more light on our target group, we have created a special expatriates section on our site which gives an overview of the worldwide expatriate market.  Though the reasearch on expatriates is rather limited, our findings give a pretty good picture of the most important characteristics of expatriates, their problems and their needs . It also give an overview of the most popular expatriate destinations and an insight to worldwide expat salaries.

Want to learn more about expatriates, their background and their need? Check out our new information on expatriates worldwide. And if you want to share your own expat story with us, we’re happy to hear from you.

The social cost of the brain drain is enormous: Since most German emigrants are young and highly qualified, the state loses billions in tax revenues according to the experts. According to their calculations, the lost tax revenue of an emigrating doctor amounts to more than one million Euros over the rest of his lifetime, a qualified worker costs more than 280,000 Euros in oportunity costs. Even if only one third of emigrated doctors stayed abroad, the tax loss of these workers alone would thus amount to more than one billion Euros.

At the same time the experts criticize the complicated bureaucratic procedures for recognizing foreign qualifications in Germany. According to them, many highly qualified immigrants in Germany cannot work in their chosen profession since their degrees are not recognized. The experts are therefore demanding a rapid restructuring of the German immigration system with special incentives for attracting qualified migrants.