After coming to America, they have a worse life than back home. What happened to the land of opportunity? http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110326/ap_on_re_us/us_underemployed_immigrants#mwpphu-container NEW YORK â After finishing medical school in Bogota, Colombia, Maria Anjelica Montenegro did it all â obstetrics, pediatrics, emergency medicine, even surgery. By her estimate, she worked with thousands of patients. None of that prepared her for the jobs she's had since she moved to the United States: Sales clerk. Babysitter. Medical assistant. That last one definitely rubbed raw at times. "I know I was working in my field," the 34-year-old New York resident said. "But that is medical assistant. I'm a doctor." Montenegro is hardly unique, given the high U.S. unemployment rate these days. Her situation reflects a trend that some researchers call "brain waste" â a term applied to immigrants who were skilled professionals in their home countries, yet are stymied in their efforts to find work in the U.S. that makes full use of their education or training. Mohan Singh, 55, thought moving to the United States would be a smooth transition. Born and raised in India, he left his home country for Kuwait, where he worked in air conditioning and elevator maintenance. He lived in Kuwait for 25 years, started his own company and was successful enough to send his daughter and son to college in the United States. At their urging, Singh came to the U.S. in 2000. He said he thought "that I'll be getting the same job, I'll be getting into a good field, make a good life." It took seven years to complete the paperwork that allowed Singh to work here legally. When he applied for jobs, would-be employers focused on the fact that Singh had not worked in his field in the United States. "They cancel all my experience," he said. He now spends 12 hours a day, seven days a week, behind the wheel of a taxicab. It's a far cry from the work he's done for much of his life, Singh said, and the wages are much lower than those he once brought home. The whole experience has soured him on the idea of staying in America. He plans to move back to India in a couple of years, when his son is done with his post-graduate work. "I used to have money, I used to have good life," Singh said. "Over here, I'm hand to mouth."
Why didn't he start his own elevator maintenance business instead of relying on someone else for a job?
It's mostly a psychological problem. They have succeeded once, and they didn't realize that they would have to succeed all over again in a minute timeframe in order to survive in the current economic climate. You need a business plan to make it in the US today.
So the working assumption here that any third world country immigrant with a valid profession is guaranteed a job in his line in the US along with a good life?
I can tell you India experience: India is growing quite fast at 9% real GDP growth. New Shopping Malls and high rise apartments are coming all over India. Salaries in India are increasing at an annual rate of 10-15%. So if someone is educated from India's top institutes, i think one can stay in India. But here is a flip side to living in India: Undoubtedly, It is the worlds most dirtiest country. The cows on road shit openly and while walking on road, their shit sticks to your shoes. Zig Zag traffic is nonsense in India. How ever, India is changing for real and standards of living are increasing dramatically.
Engineers come to the USA and displace Americans to a huge extent. Why is that? Because corporations own our rat bastard politicians and dictate the laws..
No it's still alive and well for talented, hard working people. The days of supporting a family by working 40 hours/wk at an assembly line are pretty much over, but that was a temporary 50 year blip anyway. The government has become the new way to earn a living without having to work more than 40 hours/week and not actually use your brain. Those jobs are pretty competitive though. But the "American Dream", starting with little and building wealth is mainly just reserved for those that are talented and hard working. It has always been that way for the most part though.
I would be worried about hiring someone who worked in a trade in a different country because of the vastly different standards applied here in the US vs. the rest of the world. Here we think in inches and feet and ounce and pounds, I don't really want to work next to the guy who's constantly bitching all day long "what's all this 13/32nds and 7/16th stuff? Back where I come from you know that 6mm is smaller than 7 mm". I realize the concepts of air conditioning and elevators are universal, but the implementations and nuances are probably vastly different. A small business owner isn't going to want to have to deal with that headache.