Foreign Talent Waste a Western Phenomenon
Foreign Talent Waste a Western Phenomenon
A dialogue of "brain waste" as a socioeconomic problem.
A dialogue of "brain waste" as a socioeconomic problem.
Brain Waste - Skill Underutilization
There is a dialogue between experts about brain waste (immigrant underutilization) within the Western society that raises the issue that industries are neglecting a valuable and integral part of the population.
Joshua Slawsby
This occurs by dismissing, exploiting, misleading, and failing these workers.
As many people who have worked in service and hospitality can tell you, the industry employees a number of interesting people from various backgrounds and disciplines for a number of reasons. For some it is an extra job, a retirement job, a way to pay for higher education, a passion, but for others it remains about survival.
Brain Waste the Expert Dialogue:
Batolova, Fix & Bachmeier
"While brain waste is not a new phenomenon -- take, for example the old, familiar story of doctors driving taxis --its economic impacts have not been estimated in the United States. Until now". -Migration Policy Institute: Untapped Talent 2016
Bowen & Elejalde-Ruiz
"But those already here say the expertise they brought with them to the U.S.often goes to waste. Lengthy recertification processes, language barriers and employers' unfamiliarity with foreign credentials hobble immigrants' efforts to find work in their fields. They take jobs as janitors, babysitters, and valets to get by".
- Chicago Tribune 2017
Batolova, Fix & Bachmeier
"Highly Skilled immigrants who cannot fully utilize their skills are less likely to earn family-sustaining wages and achieve financial stability for themselves and their families. At the same time, finding a way to tap underutilized skills would have a positive impact on national and local economies".
-Migration Policy Institute: Untapped Talent 2016
Linda Rabben
"When foreign-trained professionals migrate to the United States, they often encounter significant obstacles on the path to professional practice. Because of the Unite States' decentralized federal system, no single structure governs professional certification in regulated occupations".
-Migration Policy Institute: Credential recognition 2013
Bowen & Elejalde-Ruiz
"Canada pioneered the merit-based concept in the 1960s, but even there, more than 40 percent of highly educated immigrants are overqualified for the jobs in which they work".
-The Chicago Tribune: Jeanne Batalova 2017
Travis Lupick
"Kusina's experience in Canada epitomizes the difficulties that this demographic struggles with. He is a certified physiologist with degrees from the University of Zimbabwe and the University of Minnesota. And e has teaching experience in Zimbabwe and the University of Illinois and the University of Minnesota. But has not translated into a teaching position in British Columbia".
-The Georgia Straight 2009
Elejalde-Ruiz
"Hiring immigrants became a 'cycle', he said, because it was easier for Spanish-speaking supervisors to train new workers in their language. Sometimes it was positive, because they could communicate with international guests. But the language barrier also prevented some workers from advocating for themselves, such as when years went by without a raise, he said. While critical to the industry, immigrant workers are vulnerable to exploitation, Garcia said. They work hard without complaint for fear of a reduction in their hours or of being replaced by another willing applicant"
- The Chicago Tribune 2017
Batolova, Fix & Bachmeier
Given the size of the brain waste problem we have documented--an issue that affects close to 2 million immigrant college graduates--it is clear that such programs [as the not for profit organization Upwardly Global, which offers face to face training to help foreigners edit their resume to fit the field] need to be continued and expanded.
-Migration Policy Institute: Untapped Talent 2016
Now! The Conversation's Ours:
Although there is no one-stop solution to this brain waste problem nor the subsequent issues, holes, and ethical dilemmas it causes, it remains morally right to try to promote and attend to inclusion within the workplace. Industry leaders must create fairness to solve or at least acknowledge this Western social problem. We as a nation, activists, and professionals could put this skilled innovative talent to use, by changing our perspective and actions. This in turn we can make room for others who are less skilled to fill the entry positions, hopefully offering them the opportunity to work and advance in the United States. To others outside the country America is seen as a place that values equality and education; however, in practice this is not always the case, as evidenced by the issue of skill underutilization.