UK facing alarming loss of scientific talent overseas
A report has suggested the UK is seeing an exodus of skilled science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers to other countries, placing the country's economic future at risk.
The survey (PDF) by STEM workforce consultancy SThree found that nearly a quarter (23%) of STEM employers have already seen talent move to new jobs abroad in the past 12 months, reflecting a "dynamic new phase" in global competition for workers.
"This is no longer a passive competition for talent, but an active, employee-led migration, with the USA emerging as the primary destination," according to the new report, which sees similar patterns in other European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands.
It also found that one in three STEM professionals in the UK have been approached by a foreign employer in the last 12 months, while 13% are in the process of moving or making plans to do so, and another 25% would consider moving abroad "if the right opportunity came along."
Nearly 10 million people are employed in jobs related to STEM in the UK, according to SThree.
The findings chime with another just-published report from the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords, which portrays the UK's science base as "bleeding to death" as a result of the loss of skilled workers and a failure to scale startup science and technology companies.
"The UK's inability to retain economic benefits of its R&D is a fatal flaw to any growth strategy," according to the document, which calls for the creation of a National Council for Science, Technology and Growth to coordinate actions to reverse the decline and break the country out of a "doom loop."
The conclusions are thrown into stark relief by the recent decisions by AstraZeneca, MSD, and Eli Lilly not to proceed with planned investments in the UK, plus a stream of startups abandoning the London stock market in favour of listing in the US.
If those trends continue, the UK risks becoming little more than an 'incubator economy' in areas like life sciences, according to the committee's report.
Visa clampdown may compound the problem
Alongside the loss of home-grown workers, there are also concerns that the minimum salary threshold for a skilled worker visa in the UK – which has risen in the last two years to a current level of at least £41,700 per year – will further weaken the UK's competitiveness.
Nearly two-thirds (62%) of STEM professionals said that this visa requirement will be an impediment to the sector, while the House of Lords committee has called it an "absurd act of national self-harm."
"Skilled immigration is crucial to the UK's economic future. Yet UK businesses now face stricter sponsorship rules just as global competition for STEM talent intensifies," commented Rakesh Patel, SThree's managing director for the UK and the rest of Europe.
"Without the right STEM talent, we cannot deliver on net zero and digital transformation, nor remain competitive in vital sectors such as life sciences, technology and engineering, all of which underpin the government's Industrial Strategy."
