12/16 Migration Policy Report – Nearly 2 million immigrants with college degrees in the US. 1 out of every 4 are relegated to low-skilled jobs or unable to find work. This skill underutilization (often referred to as brain waste) comes at a significant cost to families and the U.S. economy: College-educated immigrants employed in low-skilled work miss out on more than $39 billion in wages. And as a result, federal, state, and local governments lose out on more than $10 billion in unrealized tax receipts, according to this study, which offers the first-ever estimates of the economic costs of brain waste.
