Crisis Makes Brazil Lose Talents to Other Countries

07/18/2016 - 10h12

A the beginning of 2015, architect Christiane Roy, 39, and her husband, engineer Gustavo Taglianetti, 40, felt they were walking a tightrope.

Roy is self-employed and saw the amount of work to do increase while her revenues declined as her clients wanted to spend less money, which required much search for the best prices. Taglianetti started to take on his colleagues' duties as they were fired from the company he worked for and was under constant threat of dismissal.

"We began to feel much more stressed," says Roy.

The economic crisis sparked a decision they had already considered due to the wave of violence in São Paulo: they decided to move abroad. In September 2015, the couple left Brazil and settled in Toronto, Canada, taking their two daughters with them.

In two months, Taglianetti found a job as an engineer. Roy has dedicated her time to helping the couple's daughters adapt to the new life before she starts looking for a job herself.

She says the family's living standards changed a little - now they do not have a maid, as the job is not common in developed countries. However, she believes that the family will benefit from security and the quality of the children's education.

A growing number of qualified professionals has followed the same path, which translated into a strong wave of emigration that gained momentum with the economic recession faced by Brazil.

LEAVING

Last year, 2,500 Brazilians obtained the immigration visa to the U.S., which is above the 1,605 who got it in 2014. Figures of the American government show that the 55% increase was the tenth highest among 138 countries.

The U.K. issued 945 work permits to Brazilian citizens in the first nine months of 2015, the highest number since 2006.

The number of visas granted for Brazilian to enter Japan (including all categories, such as tourism, business and work) in 2015 returned to the same level as that of 2008, when developed countries were affected by the crisis and many Brazilians left the country.

The Brazilian economy even felt the negative effects, but saw a forceful return in 2010, when it grew stark 7.5%.

The combination attracted Brazilians who lived abroad as well as foreigners. There was no unemployment and the market was looking for qualified professionals, who received higher wages. The appreciated currency and the foreign crisis made these salaries even more competitive in relation to those paid in other countries.

However, the combination of excessive public expenses, high inflation and a weak world economy sent Brazil plunging in 2014 with a strong recession that has lasted two years.

Although some economists say that the country is close to hitting rock bottom, the consequences of perhaps the worst recession in Brazil's republican period tends to deepen for many years.

FEELING OF EXUBERANCE

The case of the professionals and entrepreneurs moving abroad illustrates the issue.

Businessman Geraldo Rodrigues, 52, had sold 70% of his sports career managing company and enjoyed a very good financial situation.

However, he says that he sees similar aspects between the period and that which followed the beginning of the Plano Cruzado economic plan.

"I began to feel there was a feeling of exuberance. The hyperinflation of the 1980s left me broke and gave me an ulcer. I didn't want to go through that again," says Rodrigues, who moved to Miami in 2009.

He preferred to invest in the U.S. the resources he had earned: he bought real estate and started a new business connected to audiovisual equipment.

In the long term, some of the consequences of this wave of migration can even be positive. But, until then, the negative effects are predominant and specialists say that in the final analysis, it is hard to make an evaluation.

If these professionals return to Brazil, they will bring more experience and qualification.

A former student of the University of California, sociologist Simon Schwartzman, a researcher at Instituto de Estudos do Trabalho e da Sociedade (Iets), agrees with the theory. He stresses, however, that the effect is negative in the short term and future gains are uncertain.

"We are losing talented professionals, people with good qualifications, who may or may not come back to Brazil because when they leave, they do it in pursuit of better quality of life, less violence and better education for their children."

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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