College-educated immigrants outnumber unskilled immigrants

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theloo...led-immigrants

A new Brookings report finds that college-educated immigrants now outnumber those who enter the United States with just a high school degree. The disparity is especially striking in urban areas, with college-educated immigrants outnumbering their high-school-educated counterparts by 25 percent in 44 major U.S. cities. Overall, 30 percent of working-age immigrants have a college degree now, compared to just 19 percent in 1980. Only 28 percent of immigrants in the United States lack a high school diploma.

And the trend appears to have escalated. More college-educated immigrants came to the United States in the past 10 years than immigrants lacking a high school education, in part due to increased demand from U.S. employers. Half of all skilled immigrants are overqualified for their current jobs, the report finds. The Washington Post summarized the Brookings findings in a front-page report today, and found that some regional employers are increasingly favoring a foreign-born workforce.


Some employers may say they prefer immigrants to native-born workers. When Samir Kumar needs to hire employees for his Northern Virginia-based IT business, he often looks overseas. Not only do workers from India and Ukraine have the required training, but their expectations are lower, he said.


"They actually don't demand a very high amount of salary, and the expectations are kind of grounded and they don't jump around so much" between companies, said the 39-year-old Ashburn resident, an immigrant from India. U.S.-born technology and business analysts are hard to find and hard to retain, he said, while immigrants with the same skills and education "are much easier to manage."



Most immigrants are granted entry into the United States based on their family ties in the country--not their skill level. A smaller number of H1-B visas go out to employers to offer jobs to immigrants when Americans with the right skills can't be found. To qualify for this visa, an immigrant must have a college degree. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other business leaders (including Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch) have argued that the immigration system should shift away from the family reunification model, and give employers more leeway to attract high-skilled immigrants to settle in America and perhaps open their own businesses that would create jobs here.

The Brookings report urges lawmakers to prioritize skilled immigration as well, while also focusing on raising the skill level of immigrants who are already here and lack a high school education--many of whom are not authorized to be in the country.

The report's authors used U.S. census data to make their calculations, and say they were thus unable to distinguish between illegal and legal immigrants in the data. They estimate a 10 to 20 percent undercounting of illegal immigrants in the census.

Experts estimate that more than a fifth of all adults living in the United States without a high school diploma are illegal immigrants. The report mentions that most research suggests that new low-skilled immigrants entering the country can drive down wages for lower-skilled American workers. Brookings researchers also found that low-skilled immigrants are more likely to come from Mexico and have fewer English skills than high-skilled immigrants do.

In cities where the immigrant population is growing very fast, such as Omaha, low-skilled immigrants outnumber high-skilled ones. Low-skilled immigrants also outnumber high-skilled ones in many border towns and the Great Plains cities. High-skilled immigrants, meanwhile, cluster in coastal cities like Washington, D.C. and San Francisco.

shout out to all the college dreamers we will have our day keep strong guys .

This really suxs. We immigrants are worthless with out a social. My mom lost her job.
It's getting worse everyday and not better. I even had a freaked dream that u needed a social to pump gas.

Haha. Pumping gas needing a social? That wouldn't happen in our lifetime. Oil companies love money too much.

Hang in there Dreamer12 things will get better... You know what they say at the end of every storm there's a rainbow..

Your words of comfort are shallow; anyhow, they are not accommodating. Storms last a for a few days, but my plight seems ever lasting. Life is becoming too difficult to weather, and there is nothing I can do. Helplessness and despair are leading me to further depression. However, depression will not solve any problems. In the end, I am left hopeless and desperate as the situation worsens.

Awesome.

I know it's hard cooltalker but you have to remain cool... Your not missing out on much trust me.. The job and the money will come later...

Find what's really bothering you and try to fix it anyway you can...

For me is woman.. Even though I know it's not going to work because of how girls are in America... I still try and sometimes I get lucky and it's worth while like all your problems go away at least for that brief moment....

I'm going on a date in the morning it's an all day trip on the train with this really nice girl...We are going to L.A. I plan to enjoy the day and spend all the money I manage to save up on her even though I know i'm jobless... Because it's those few moments in life that make life worth living...

LifeDreamer - that's great that you're getting laid and all and i'm sure your words of wisdom come from a warm place but the truth is we have the right to be frustrated and pissed.

We didn't chose to come here and we have no place to go. Any decision or mistake that we make has countless consequences. Our lives are passing by and we are not free to live the life that dangles in front of our eyes... BECAUSE OF A PIECE OF PAPER that has a number. because we're not in the system. Everyone says the time is coming... DreamAct has been trying to pass for over 10 years... Somebody's 20's went by without being able to drive, travel, go to school, have a decent job etc... My twenties are half way over... When will life begin?

I'm not saying I would rather be in a starving country but at least what they feel and live everyday is REAL. I feel as if i'm living a fricken lie... what's worse is that everything can be taken away from me in heartbeat. Sometimes I would rather be in the slums of some foreign country where at least that is all I know.

So don't say to "keep cool," "wait it out" and that "our time is coming" because you don't know if our time is coming. Let us mingle in this anger and frustration because it's real and it's and underlying part of our psyche. Instead offer a way to channel this energy. Let us bleed the venom out so we can begin to heal.

So stop complaining. You said it yourself: at least your not living in a starving country. There are hundreds of millions of people right now living to the south of us who can't say that. So it could be worse.