RESEARCH INTO SOME ECONOMIC ASPECTS RELATED TO EMIGRATION: THE CASE OF SLOVAKIA AND LATVIA

Abstract

The common problem in the EU countries is a high rate of youth unemployment. Many well- educated young people emigrate from their native countries with the aim to look for better job opportunities abroad. Slovakia and Latvia are the countries with a high rate of youth emigration. The major reason for emigration is the economic situation in both countries - high rate of unemployment and low wages. Usually emigrants from these countries are employed as unskilled workers abroad. Thereby the native countries of emigrants lose well-educated people but the destination countries of migrants do not exploit the skills and knowledge of these people. In this case this problem is a social problem at the EU level. The aim of this research study is to evaluate and to compare the economic situation in Slovakia and Latvia, as well as in the destination countries of migrants. Suggestions referred to the decrease in human capital flight or brain drain from Latvia and Slovakia are presented in this paper. The main sources exploited in the analysis embrace the European statistical database and the statistical databases of the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Latvia. This research focuses on the annual data of two countries covering a period of 2004-2014. The year 2004 for both countries is the year of their accession to the EU. The main research methods employed in this study are as follows: comparison analysis, statistical analysis, content analysis.