Brain drain in Italy is the latest in the series of problems for a country that could actually do without some!
Truth be told, the Italian economy doesn’t always dominate discussion whenever the talk surrounds European powerhouses. At least that has been the situation, particularly in the past half a decade where thanks to a bit of political upheaval, the Italian economy has had much of its task cut out: how to increase growth and lead to more job creation across sectors. Therefore, when citing the powerful European economies, the experts are perhaps left a narrower discussion, talks largely restricted to the German and French economies, that albeit, still punching their weight against their contemporaries in the continent have a lot of work to do if they are to emerge clear of the sluggish growth that currently thwarts their progress.
A big crisis stemmed from the fact that Italy in 2019 was warned about the increasing debt situation. The public debt remains what experts call ‘monumental!’ Perhaps it boggles the mind to know that as on date, it currently runs at over 2 million euros. Do the math and you understand it to be USD 2.24 trillion. What’s particularly frightening for optimists who have seen better days is the fact that the economy has been in a state of sluggish growth for the past five quarters.
It also doesn’t help to note that the banks are still stuck with bad loans. They are currently reluctant to lend a lot of money.
What lies in the future?
Any doubts about the performance of the Italian economy in 2019 left little to the imagination. Updates, particularly from the bygone month of September, already pointed to a rather less than an underwhelming futuristic picture. Experts have already forewarned that the Italian economy is expected to grow not by much, by only 0.4%.
The gaping void in growth and a bleaker future picture has a thing to do with the current growth figures. In 2019, the Italian economy grew no more than by 0.1 percent.
Furthermore, the real challenge seems to stem from the European Commission forecast that suggests that the slow growth that the Italian economy is poised for, now in the second year running, will make it the slowest growing of all European economies.
But is that all?
The 2019 woes were made worse by a problem that now seems to be getting serious, and it could be said, with each passing day. It can be said with a certain confirmation that there’s the problem of brain drain in Italy. So what exactly is happening that has led to the situation of brain drain in Italy?
Where it stands at the moment then it appears that the famous land of the Roman emperors is in trouble; a country that has captivated much of the world’s attention thanks to a magnificent cultural heritage, including a culinary culture that’s second to none in the wider world.
Italy stands in real danger of losing some of its famous minds thanks to its youth tending to explore better opportunities that lie outside the country.
The Times from England highlighted the latest in a series of crises that have engulfed the country; the brain drain in Italy. It would quote:
Over the past decade 182,000 have emigrated, many of them fleeing a shrunken, bureaucratic and nepotistic job market.
Concerns about a “brain drain” were provoked by figures showing that 816,000 Italians have left for a life abroad in the past ten years, more than the population of a large city such as Palermo.
About 117,000 left last year alone, up 1.9 per cent on the year before. The UK was the most popular destination, attracting 21,000 Italians.
Despite alarm in Italy over the arrival of African migrants, the report also showed that the number fell by 17 percent last year.