Selectivity and precarious labor in the highly skilled migration from Latin America and the Caribbean, 2000-2010

Abstract The aim of this paper is to examine the main changes in the levels and trends of global highly skilled migration between 2000 and 2010, with special emphasis on what happens in the Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC). The paper takes as analytical axes the selective immigration policies of highly skilled migrants in the countries of destination, the limited incorporation of them in the origin countries, and their precarious labor incorporation in the economies of the global North. The information used here is the recently published database by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) known as DIOC 2000/01 and 2010/11. The article shows an accelerated increase in skilled labor migration (particularly in the case of women), an increase in the "brain drain" between 2000 and 2010, and an increasingly precarious and unfavorable labor insertion for highly skilled migrants of LAC.