International Journal of Sociology Study Volume 2, 2014 www.seipub.org/ijss 93 Analysis of Brain Drain in the Philippines: The Case of Professionals Jinky Leilanie Lu Research Professor, Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies, National Institutes of Health, University of the Philippines Manila; Affiliate Faculty- Department of Social Sciences, UP Manila jinky_lu@yahoo.com Abstract Brain drain is the efflux of professionals from developing countries to industrialized countries. In this study, various factors for this phenomenon were cited and categorized into push and pull factors. The Philippines has provided mechanisms for the migration of its professionals since the 1900s. As shown in the data, most of the Filipino professionals who migrate are the health professionals, engineers, teachers and information-technology specialists. This study was conducted to look into the trend of deployment of Filipino professionals in these four fields. This study can provide the baseline data for developing policies and strategies in preventing brain drain, or in alleviating the impact of brain drain in the country. This study is mainly based on review of literature and analysis of statistics provided by government and related agencies. Keywords Deployment of Professionals; Filipino Professionals; Brain Drain; Migration of Health Professionals; Engineer; Teachers and IT Specialists Introduction The diffusion of highly skilled workers from developing countries to developed countries has been a major concern of many nations. This is the brain drain phenomenon. The highly skilled and better educated individuals or also known as the knowledge workers, especially the physicians, engineers, scientists and other professionals with university training, leave the country and work abroad (Beine et. al., 2003; Bozeman et al.,2001). According to Beine et. al., (2003), brain drain is the ȃinternational transfer of resources in the form of human capital.Ȅ It involves the flight of people with high level of skills and competence from developing countries to developed countries (Baruch, 2007 Sako 2002). ȃ‛rainȄ implies any skill or competency which is a potential and actual asset while ȃdrainȄ pertains to a rate of outmigration at a higher level than the normal (Bushnell and Choy, 2001). The ȁbrain drainȂ phenomenon has been perceived as detrimental to low income countries since the much- needed human resources are not tapped. Furthermore, return of investments on education by the state in the education sector is not fully realized (Martineau et al., 2002 (Carrington and Detragiache,1999). As noted by Marchal and Kegels (2003), direct consequences of migration, particularly the migration of health professionals, affect the availability and productivity of the health system in most of exporting countries. Alburo and Abella (2002) noted that the Philippines has been an example of a country that has facilitated migration of health professionals. The first wave of labor migration in the Philippines started in the 1900's when thousands of Filipinos migrated to work in Hawaiian plantations. Many Filipinos opted to leva ethe country and work abroad due to poverty brought about by the Philippine-American war (Candazo, 2001). In the year 1934, the number of Filipino workers employed in Hawaiian plantations had reached about 120,000. The second wave is described as the outflow of professional groups to the United States. Majority of these professionals were doctors, dentists, and mechanical technicians. These professionals were driven to migrate by the desire to "look for greener pastures." By 1975, there were more than 250,000 Filipinos who had migrated to the US (Candazo, 2001). The Philippines has been losing its most educated and skilled workers to the most industrialized countries such as the United States and the Middle East countries. In fact, Carrington and Detriangche (1999) noted that the Philippines contributed the largest number of migrants among the other countries in Asia and the Pacific to the United States. Methodology The study focused on four main professional groups- the health professionals, engineers, teachers and information technology (IT) specialists. The sources of data were the Philippine Overseas Employment