<p>"One out of every five college-educated immigrants in the United States is either unemployed or working in an unskilled job such as a dishwasher, fast food restaurant cashier or security guard, depriving the U.S. economy of the full potential of more than 1.3 million foreign-born workers, according to a study released today.</p>
<p>My immigrant wife has never worked here. I know others that have emigrated to the US where the wife has never worked outside the home. Are these people counted in the statistics commented upon in the article?</p>
<p>I don’t know. I know several kids (one of which is mine) who are not immigrants, have college degrees and are working as waitresses, bartenders, manual labor construction and cleaning services.</p>
<p>Do they have degrees in Engineering or Law? </p>
<p>It would be interesting to know how many of these trained and educated immigrants have attempted U.S. certification in their chosen professions, and what the reasons were for those who haven’t accomplished that. I wonder if a language barrier is the main obstacle.</p>
<p>^^ No, alwaysamom they don’t–more in the lines of business and social sciences and some in biology. However, the number quoted in that article I didn’t think meant just engineering and law–thought it was just college educated.</p>
<p>Language may be a problem for these people. Plus, Nat points out the examples used were not US educated. Have no idea how that impacts on desirability when applying for positions.</p>
<p>Oh, I know that not all of them in the study had Engineering or Law degrees. I was just curious about the kids you mentioned, because it is not at all unusual for immigrants who have professional degrees from their home countries to be underemployed in the U.S. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, nurses, not a rarity, unfortunately. Sometimes the accreditation process is onerous, even when there is no language barrier.</p>
<p>My father has an engineering degree (from a foreign country) and was working toward accreditation in the US when we ran into financial burdens (they had kids). He and my mother had to start working full time (364 days a year, 12 hours a day full time) to provide for the family and has been working ever since (about 18 years ago) in the “food industry”. </p>
<p>Why didn’t he continue pursing? He says (and has been saying ever since I learned how to speak) that he’s too old and that employers are looking for young people that can and are willing to work harder than him for less and are probably more efficient than him. He missed his chance and it was too late to turn back.</p>
<p>It sure is unfortunate. In the ~20 years they’ve been in the food industry and the decade-ish I’ve known the industry, I have and they’ve had the privilege of meeting some very talented foreigners that came from poor backgrounds in foreign countries but worked their way out to seek the land of opportunities. I’ve seen many of them work so very vigorously to learn the English, to achieve (most of the time reachieve) the accreditation that is required for a more stable life and still work a part time job that was scheduled like a full time job all the while either taking care of their families or nurturing their dilapidated personal lives. </p>
<p>I typed all that and I forgot what my point is so…yeah. They all have their stories of why, and the statistic doesn’t shock me at all.</p>
<p>[qoute] depriving the U.S. economy of the full potential of more than 1.3 million foreign-born workers, according to a study released today.
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<p>A very tricky thing to measure.</p>
<p>Are these people who have degrees in fields where the lack of graduates is holding back the economy? Are there such jobs?<br>
alwaysamom, is our counry suffering because of a dearth of lawyers?</p>
<p>I’m not sure why you’re asking me that. I don’t think anyone thinks that there is a dearth of lawyers. However, for someone who has a undergrad and professional degree, and often years of work experience, to then be earning a living driving a cab, is an enormous waste, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Yes, but the original premise is that people with degrees from other countries (who aren’t working in their original field) is somehow costing our economy a huge amount of potential revenue.
I’m not sure I see that.</p>
<p>I hear the sound of axes grinding. Anyone want to bet that a government program would “solve” this “problem”? If life in the US isn’t working out I recommend that they try someplace else. I don’t remember anyone guaranteeing me that I could work in my field of choice if I just got a degree.</p>
<p>WashDad… what? We’re not talking about immigrants who can’t get jobs in their field because they’re lazy, often we’re talking about skilled immigrants who can’t get jobs in their field because the government has made requirements for US credentialing of foreign professionals overly onerous. The same problem occurs in Canada with credentialing of foreign doctors, and is an acknowledged problem.</p>
<p>This isn’t a plea for a government program or handout, it’s a plea for the government to back off on some of the more ridiculous requirements.</p>
<p>We have the same problem in Canada. Up here- could be different in the US- its due to a disconnect between our immigration system and the training, ceritification and availability of jobs for immigrants. </p>
<p>The fed. govt lets professionals in (as part of our points system- you need so many points to immigrate) but does not take into account whether their credentials count for anything. </p>
<p>Add in most professions that require a significant amount of re-education in Canada (some justified- some not- most seems self-serving for the profession). But then the professional schools give low priority (or in some cases no admittance) to those seeking re-education. A crazy catch 22. </p>
<p>The other day I met a technician who gave me an echocardiogram. She was a RADIOLOGIST in Russia, but coming to Canada was unable to work, did not qualify to go back to med school, and so went to a technical school to retrain as a technician. </p>
<p>I think so long as the immigrants are told what they are getting into, its fair (I’m not sure many know until they get here and give it a shot). But I do think its a waste of talent.</p>
<p>It is an important point that these folks were not US educated. In many cases the education is comparable - or better, but in many other cases, it is not. Studying medicine, for instance, in some countries (eg. Germany), is an undergraduate program. Nursing, in Germany, is comprable to a US nurse’s aide. If these programs were automatically accepted into the US job market, many clever Americans would get their degrees elsewhere!</p>
<p>My pediatricians’ “nurse” was a doctor from India, who was not allowed to practice as a doctor here. I used to think that was strange and unfair. But I have no idea what it takes to become a doctor in India, and perhaps she was not able to pass the medical boards here in the US.</p>
<p>My H has a co-worker, an engineer, who earned his Professional Engineer designation simply to prove that his Russian engineering degree was adequate. I don’t know what was involved in his degree. But I don’t really see that it should be the responsibility of the US employers to have to evaluate every educational program outside of the US. (Within the US, there are associations whereby schools have to prove their programs to be certified. Going outside the US loses this credential.)</p>
<p>Germany does the same thing. If you have a Ph. D. from a US university, you are not allowed to use the “doctor” title in Germany unless you have been vetted by some office in Berlin somewhere. Titles are a big deal there. My H had to provide his diploma to be allowed to work as an engineer in Germany. (German engineering degrees are from technical schools, not universities - so they do accept that US engineers are qualified - as long as they can prove their education.)</p>
<p>I’m curious as to what the percentage is of college-educated non-immigrant Americans who are unemployed or working in unskilled jobs. Mu guess is that 20 percent might not be that far off.</p>
<p>Medicine in Germany is not an undergraduate program. It’s six years, NOT four, hence they receive a doctorate degree when they graduate. I’m sure 2 extra years of U.S. undergrad general education will make a doctor here more qualified. Whatever.</p>
<p>I can tell you that educated people who really want to be professionals, American born or immigrants, will be there one way or another, no matter how hard the road is. Those are the ones who do not listen to others and stick to their own plans, even though they did not know any English when they got here. Plenty of them out there.</p>
<p>^ I am not saying you are saying this MiamiDAP but your post reminds me of where I tend to disagree with others and it usually goes back at a fundamental assumption that underlies so many beliefs. That assumption is that people’s particular lot in life is entirely due to their own circumstance. If they got ahead and achieved, its entirely do to THEM and not their context or society; if they get the short end of the stick, its entirely their fault and it wouldn’t have happened if they really didn’t want it. Such assumptions seem to then dictate everything else.</p>