JAMAICA’S brain drain rocketed in 2009 to a seven-year high which contributed to the reduction of the population’s growth rate to levels not seen since Hurricane Gilbert, 21 years ago.

More Jamaicans left than returned last year, resulting in 20,000 net external movements which was 13.6 per cent more than in 2008 and also the highest since 2002, according to the Economic and Social Survey 2009 (ESSJ) published this month by the Planning Institute of Jamaica. Contrastingly, the net external movements in 2007 was the lowest in 14 years.

Mark Croskery, CEO of Stocks and Securities Ltd (SSL), said the 2007 decline in brain drain was the result of renewed hope due in part to the Jamaica Labour Party assuming office after 18 years in opposition. He, however, added that it would be transient unless Jamaica’s social and economic outlook improved.

“I think a lot of young Jamaicans came back to Jamaica two and a half years ago, but the bottom line is there must be action. The manifestos were presented and those [Jamaicans] have to see action, regardless of party,” Croskery told reporters and editors in January at a weekly Monday Exchange meeting at the Observer’s Beechwood Avenue headquarters in Kingston. “Things really have to pick up pace in order to keep that stock of brain drain from reoccurring. They don’t want to hear about bureaucracy anymore, otherwise [residents] return home for three years and get frustrated and then leave again.”

Nearly one-third of the 21,614 migrants to the destinations of the US, UK and Canada were skilled workers. Top managers, professionals or technicians represented 7.0 per cent of the total migrants to Canada or 128 persons in 2009 and 5.3 per cent of the total migrants to the US at 997 in 2008 (latest data).

“In the private sector there is a mission statement and if I cannot meet my mission then my staff will leave. So likewise you have to motivate the (citizens),” he analogised.

Migration to the US, UK and Canada in 2009 was the fourth highest in 13 years, but was actually down compared with 2008. This was the result of a 20 per cent fall in migration to Canada at 1,838 year on year and flat migration to the US at 18,510. Last year, however, saw a record number of Jamaicans migrating to the UK at 1,266, beating the previous record at 1,240 in 2008.

Returning residents declined from 1,269 in 2008 to 1,170 in 2009, the lowest in at least six years.

Jamaica’s 2.69 million population in 2009 grew by 0.2 per cent — its smallest margin in 21 years and the second smallest in 40 years. It was a year in which live births were at their lowest since at least 1980, whilst deaths and net external movement reached new highs since 2002, resulting in a net increase in the population of 6,400 individuals. It was the lowest since 1988 when Jamaica was ravaged by Hurricane Gilbert and recorded annual population growth rate of 0.0 per cent (originally stated as 0.1 per cent in ESSJ 1989).

The population usually grows between 0.5 and 1.0 per annum since 1998, but last year was also the second lowest since 1969 and ties with revised annual growth of 0.2 in 1987 (originally 0.4 per cent in ESSJ 1989), according a Business Observer analysis of PIOJ data. In 2002 the annual rate of growth dipped to 0.3 per cent but quickly jumped to 0.5 per annum for subsequent years until 2008 when it dipped to 0.4 and then halved in 2009. In the ’90s the lowest annual growth rate was 0.7 in both 1999 and 1998, and in the ’70s the lowest annual growth rate was 1.0 recorded in 1979, according to ESSJ 1979.

The PIOJ added that migration to the US, Canada and UK continued to reduce the relative size of the population.

“Jamaica continues to experience high levels of international migration, which in turn is increasingly influenced by demographic, social, economic and political factors,” stated the ESSJ 2009. “Efforts are being focused on migration management and policy development.”