Are Immigrants Wasting Away in Baristaville?

Evidently, immigrants with college degrees are more likely to be working in Starbuck’s than Americans in America. “Highly educated immigrants, meaning those who arrive with a college degree or more, often find that their skills do not fully transfer to the U.S. labor market,” Jason Richwine writes in a paper for the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). “Many end up holding jobs for which they are overqualified based on their paper credentials.”

Richwine also found that:

• “Among immigrants with a college degree, 20 percent have a low-skill (bottom third) occupation, compared to 7 percent of natives.

• “Nearly 30 percent of Mexican immigrants with a college degree have a low-skill occupation, as do 35 percent of Central American immigrants.

• “About 85 percent of Canadian immigrants with at least a college degree have a high-skill (top third) occupation, compared to 73 percent of natives and 53 percent of Mexican immigrants.

• “Among immigrants with an advanced degree, 37 percent have an elite-skill (top tenth) occupation, compared to 50 percent of natives.

• “Length of U.S. residency is not strongly correlated with occupational skill level.”

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