ヨーロッパ経済と出稼ぎ、頭脳流出の実態
****
Class of 2012: Europe's young pursue dreams abroad
By ALAN CLENDENNING
Aug 1, 11:27 AM EDT、Associated Press
MADRID (AP) -- Santiago Oviedo, a lanky 24-year-old from Madrid, is on track to get his master's in physics in October - a crucial milestone in his dream of becoming a researcher probing the origins of the universe.
Spain won't benefit from his big brain.
Because of education spending cuts and Spain's downward economic spiral, Oviedo is planning to emigrate to Britain, France, the Netherlands or Germany to get his Ph.D. or work at a company that lets him do research. He's afraid he may never work or raise a family in his country.
If he had graduated two years ago, Oviedo would have stood a good chance of landing a government-funded scholarship and grant for four years of doctoral study and research. That has evaporated in an austerity drive that has brought slashed budgets for scientific research and waves of layoffs at companies large and small.
With Spain's unemployment rate for people under 25 at an astonishing 53 percent, young Spaniards are leaving the country in droves to carve out a brighter future. Most seek jobs, but some, like Oviedo, are leaving because the government is struggling to afford to develop their minds.
Since 2009, when Europe's financial crisis hit full-bore, the number of Spaniards in their late teens, 20s and early 30s leaving the country has increased 52 percent - from about 12,500 to nearly 20,000 according to the government statistics agency. Young and talented Europeans from other hurting eurozone nations - Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal - are also abandoning home not only for stronger European countries but surging former European colonies in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
