A lot of skilled Africans authorized to work in the US are stuck in survival jobs, although the United States is a land of opportunities and a place where dreams come through. Africans are not exempted from the many that have migrated in hopes of a better life. Refugees moved to the USA, fleeing wars, persecution, violence or natural disasters in their home country. Graduate or experienced skilled workers move to the United States, some because they won the Green Card lottery and want to provide a better future for their offspring, other because of family reunification. Overall, they believe that the prospect for a better life is higher in the USA than it is in their home country. Refugees and Green Card holder are authorized to work in the United States without any employer’s sponsorship. Once in the United States, the skilled African Immigrant faces a brutal reality and can become quickly disillusioned.
In hopes of rebuilding their careers in the US, skilled African immigrants go through a lot of hurdles which are defining moments in their life. How challenging it is for skilled Africans to rebuild their career and integrate into the American workforce? What are the obstacles faced? How do skilled African workers cope with these barriers to employment and all the frustration these barriers create? And most importantly how do African immigrants overcome these challenges? Let’s analyze this important issue to keep the American dream alive.
African Immigrants in the US are mostly educated
Many Africans in the US are very skilled and qualified in different professions. Given their qualifications, they are entitled to middle-class jobs that offer a decent remuneration. Research shows that education is vital to the US hiring process as a person’s educational qualification is mostly considered before he or she is employed. Statistics also indicate that compare to other community of immigrants, Africans are well off in the US, with qualifications as high as a bachelor’s degree. The total percentage of African immigrants in the US with a bachelor’s degree is approximately 41%, with immigrants from Egypt (64%) and Nigeria (61%) been the top achiever’s; Note that the percentage of foreign born US citizens with a graduate degrees is just 28% of the entire population.
Survival jobs: An obstacle to reinsertion
The numbers show that academically, Africans are qualified for white-collar jobs; but the reality is different and many Africans with graduate degrees end up holding survival jobs, which are beneath their qualification. And the longer they stay in these survival jobs, the more challenging it is to reintegrate the workforce with a job commensurate their qualifications. Time is indeed a critical factor that could kill the dream of landing a professional job. In addition, applying for a job is a demanding and time consuming process, which is not always compatible with a survival job that is in many cases a distraction. A survival job is not also always compatible with the need to keep his or her skills up to date if the job seeker wants to remain marketable.
To make ends meet, skilled African expats have no other option than to take any temporary job that comes their way. They are called survival jobs because they basically help in meeting the daily needs of a person; food, healthcare, clothing and shelter. Despite all of their effort and with qualifications as high as a Master’s Degree, many skilled African could still not get above the barriers restricting Africans in the US from getting qualified jobs. As a result, they get stuck for years in these unrewarding and unfulfilling jobs, with their dreams slowly fading and dying away. This is a very challenging, discouraging, and frustrating time for many African immigrants and some of them end up giving up hope and their dream job. Other may even regret the high paying job and comfortable professional situation they sacrificed back home to pursue an illusory dream in a promise land…or an unknown land should we say.
