Educated Immigrants In Unskilled Jobs

Ianus · 02-02-2009, 07:31 PM

Should the Dream act pass within the next 2 years I think it'd be a good idea to understand what that next step might be & how it affects educated immigrants in this recession-like economy.

Quote:

A recent study by the Migration Policy Institute showed that, nationally, more than 1.3 million college-educated immigrants are either unemployed or working in jobs such as dishwashers, taxi drivers or cooks.

Many professionals arrive to find their licenses are worthless here. And the process to get recertified can take years. Many also face a language barrier — forced to relearn technical medical, engineering or other professional terminology in English. Making matters worse, in quickly advancing fields such as medicine or technology, the longer they are away from their career, the more they can fall behind.

"This is an issue that has to be addressed as soon as these immigrants arrive," says report co-author Jeanne Batalova, a policy analyst at the institute. "The longer many of these people stay in these unskilled jobs, the more difficult it is for them to make the right connections and they get trapped."

The report points out that immigrants from Latin America and Africa fared worse than their European and Asian counterparts. The disparity was blamed in part on the level of English language skills and, in some cases, immigration status.

But even with legal status, it's a hard climb up the professional ladder for some immigrants, says Ira Guevra, editor of the South Florida newsletter El Paracaidista.

Once a month, the newsletter holds a forum on how foreign-born professionals can obtain state licensing for their fields. The forum delves into the kinds of exams needed for certain specialties, internships and financial assistance available for college. It also addresses some culturally sensitive issues, such as learning the American way of interviewing for a job.

It draws a mix that includes doctors, dentists and engineers searching for answers on how to get back into their fields. Some have been here a year or two, others decades. Ossa attended the forum to find out how she could get her psychology degree recognized by the state.

hrvatica13 · 02-02-2009, 08:08 PM

I don't think this type of thing would influence Dreamies greatly since we have been living in the U.S. for years, know the language and have gone to U.S. schools. This article talks about immigrants that have moved from their home countries, have gotten a foreign education and now their licenses may not be valid in the U.S. and there's a langauage barrier. This is not the case with Dreamies since we are American raised and have an American education.

However, even if the DREAM Act does pass and we are able to work, it will be difficult to find employers who are hiring because of the recession. But we would definitely have an advantage over immigrants who just moved here and don't know the language.

Ianus · 02-02-2009, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hrvatica13

I don't think this type of thing would influence Dreamies greatly since we have been living in the U.S. for years, know the language and have gone to U.S. schools. This article talks about immigrants that have moved from their home countries, have gotten a foreign education and now their licenses may not be valid in the U.S. and there's a langauage barrier. This is not the case with Dreamies since we are American raised and have an American education.

However, even if the DREAM Act does pass and we are able to work, it will be difficult to find employers who are hiring because of the recession. But we would definitely have an advantage over immigrants who just moved here and don't know the language.

Actually this is why I posted the article,not necessarily to highlight the plight of others but that resolving one's status will just be the beginning.

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Educated Immigrants In Unskilled Jobs