Mobility of highly skilled retirees from Japan to Korea and Taiwan

Attracting highly skilled workers is a major element for the economic development of many countries, especially developing countries. However, the general international mobility of workers is from developing countries to developed ones. Historical evidence has indicated that Korean and Taiwanese firms scout for highly skilled Japanese workers (either retired or soon-to-retire) to accrue knowledge and achieve catch-up. Therefore, this paper investigates how the highly skilled Japanese workers were scouted by firms in Korea and Taiwan. Aiming at producing evidence rather than testing hypotheses, the findings of this paper shed practical information for firms in developing countries to attract highly skilled workers for their growth. In addition, this paper provides insights into the international mobility of highly skilled workers from a developed country to developing countries, which has not been examined in previous literature.