This paper presents the main trends in respect of the supply of human resources in science and technology (HRST) in Latin America and the international mobility of its highly skilled labour. This will be done through the identification of potential data sources, followed by a presentation of indicators drawn from these sources. In addition, a short section is devoted to the main policy aspects surrounding these issues.

The section on policy issues will show that the main South American countries have in common a lack of strong or efficient policies for the migration of highly skilled human resources, although in recent years important changes have occurred in some of the countries of the region.

Available information sources on highly skilled labour and international mobility in South American countries are similar to those from OECD countries as far as the main types of collected data is concerned. Potential sources are labour force surveys, population ...