More than 1.3 million college-educated immigrants living in the United States are unemployed or working as taxi drivers, dishwashers, security guards or in other unskilled jobs because they are unable to make full use of their academic and professional credentials. This report, for the first time, quantifies the scope of the ‘brain waste’ problem that affects 22 percent of the 6.1 million immigrants with a bachelor’s degree or higher who are in the U.S. labor market. The report analyzes and offers possible solutions for the credentialing and language-barrier hurdles that deprive the U.S. economy of a rich source of human capital at a time of increasing competition globally for skilled talent.
