Migration of highly skilled workers as a driver of digital economy development

Type of the article: Research Article The migration of highly skilled workers and its impact on productivity, competitiveness, and innovative development is becoming an increasingly relevant area of scientific research in the context of rapid digitalization of the economy. In this regard, the article aims to explore the relationship between the migration of highly skilled workers and digital economy development (using the example of EU countries). The study was conducted using correlation analysis and parametric data analysis methods, based on EU countries’ statistics on the migration of highly skilled workers, macroeconomic digitalization indicators, and the adoption of digital technologies at the business level. The results confirm that highly skilled migrants positively affect aggregate indicators of economic digitalization: correlation coefficients with the Global Digitalization Index and the DiGiX Digital Index are 0.735 and 0.692, respectively, and are statistically significant. At the company level, a significant influence of highly skilled migrants on the use of specific digital technologies in EU companies was confirmed. In particular, there is a strong correlation between the “Foreign Highly Skilled Personnel” indicator from the IMD World Talent Ranking 2024 and digital intensity indicators (level of application of key business-related digital technologies), as well as business activity in using big data analytics technologies: the correlation coefficients are 0.770 and 0.689, respectively, and are statistically significant. The proposed approach to analyzing the relationship between highly skilled worker migration and the digital development outcomes of companies and host countries can be used to develop and adjust knowledge and human resource productivity management strategies at both the micro- and macroeconomic levels. Acknowledgment This study is funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine under the project “Higher education in the conditions of war and post-war recovery: Determinants of development to overcome threats to the restoration of human capital” (State registration number 0124U000351).