The story of the Jamaican people is undergirded by a deep propensity to migrate to distant lands in search of the kind of economic opportunities that they could not find or access in their homeland.

Wave after wave of Jamaicans migrating to Central America, the United States, the United Kingdom, and latterly to Canada, is a matter that is well-documented, with enlightenment requiring only a cursory glance at our history.

Over the past several decades, close to a million Jamaicans have emigrated to the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada, according to the United Nations International Office of Migration (IOM).

Perhaps because of heightened politicisation of everything under the Jamaican sun, much is being made of the latest wave of migrants, specifically teachers and nurses, which is not to say the shortages created should not be cause for concern.

But if one strips away the politically tribal nonsense suggesting that one or the other of the political Administrations is responsible for any group of Jamaicans migrating, it would be seen that more people seek to leave during periods when things get tougher.

One must admit that migration has a painful sting in the tail. The net migration rate in 2021 was two out of every 1,000 population, and as IOM estimates, more than 80 per cent of Jamaicans with tertiary level education and living outside of Jamaica were trained here.

We are therefore losing a significant percentage of our highly trained and skilled professionals, what many people like to describe as “brain drain” and which has serious implications for the country’s productive sector and its education policy, because Jamaica cannot very quickly replace them.

There is also a view that large numbers of very young children left behind by migrating parents are having a tough time coping, making migration the single strongest factor contributing to the breakdown of the Jamaican family, poor academic performance and delinquent behaviour.

“Studies have also revealed that these children are at risk for sexual abuse and prostitution,” the Office of Migration says.

On the other hand, migration resulted in remittances of US$3.6 billion last year, making it Jamaica’s number one foreign exchange earner, as migrants reach back to assist their loved ones left behind.

It is not possible to precisely quantify the non-monetary contribution through assistance to schools by the myriad past students associations, diaspora organisations and a wide range of charities, not to mention investment not captured in the official figures.

In short, migration of our people has always been with us and will always be. Rather than bemoan it, we should, as a country, try to mitigate it to the degree possible.

Where we are losing too many nurses and teachers, let’s anticipate the losses and train more of these professionals. The country will get back the benefits in greater employment and higher remittances.

As a cultural change, where our approach was “go to school, get a good education and get a good job”, let us strive to get the kind of education that can prepare our people to get a good job anywhere in the world.

Jamaica will probably never be able to provide all the jobs needed by our growing population.