Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

One of the panelists, Tara Colton, deputy director of the Center for an Urban Future, agreed.

"Philosophically, this country is a nation of immigrants," Colton said, "Unfortunately, brain under-utilization is a reality because immigrants are often relegated to do menial jobs. A lot of immigrants are skilled and educated but are under-utilized."

This is where organizations such as Upwardly Global come in. They equip immigrant professionals with necessary skills and resources to rebuild their careers in the United States. By doing this, they are also helping US employers benefit from the hidden talent pool of immigrant professionals.

"We call it "economic downgrading," remarked Cicerani, "because talented immigrant job seekers face obstacles such as a lack of networking resources and they end up getting jobs as nannies, security guards or cab drivers just to get by, even if back in their home countries, they were professionals like engineers, teachers or accountants."

According to Upwardly Global, there are over one million skilled immigrant workers in the US today who have earned a Bachelor’s or even Masters degree in their home country, possess an average of seven years of work experience and have the legal right to work and live permanently in the US

There is an estimated 36 million immigrants all over the United States, representing 12.4% of the population. In New York State, there are four million immigrants, or 21.6% of the entire state’s population. In New York City, 37% of the population is composed of immigrants.

"Immigrants fit right into the racial and ethnic mix of New York City, and they represent a significant portion of workers in virtually every occupation in the city, up and down the spectrum," David Kallick, senior fellow at the Fiscal Policy Institute said.

New York City is third among cities with the highest concentration of immigrants, after Los Angeles (40%) and San Jose (38%) and ahead of San Francisco (36%) and Houston (29%).

"Despite, or maybe because of these numbers, the country in general has not been good in integrating immigrants completely to the society," lamented Dr. Suma Kurien, director of LaGuardia Community College’s Immigrant Education and Training.

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