Abstract:
Skilled based migration has gained importance in recent years reflecting the
impact of globalization, revival of growth within the economy and rapid growth in
information and communication technology. By now, migration of skilled workers
from developing countries has become a persistent trend. In Sri Lankan context,
the most pressing issue is the mismatch of number of workers demanded by the
foreign countries and supplied from Sri Lanka according to the level of skill. As a
contribution to reduce the gap and to support government and policy formulating
authorities, this research study examines the macroeconomic determinants of
skilled based migration from Sri Lanka using gravity model of migration. Poisson
Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) technique and gravity model was used as
the estimation technique. Secondary data over the period of 2009 to 2017 were
used to estimate the model along with destination year fixed effects. Empirical
results clearly demonstrate that GDP per capita of Sri Lanka is the push factor
which force the people to move from Sri Lanka while the destination country’s
population, unemployment rate, age dependency ratio and political stability are
the pull factors which attract migrants towards the destination. Furthermore,
population of Sri Lanka and distance between two countries were also discovered
as significant under the research study.
