Growing African Immigrant Population Is Highly Educated, Underemployed
May 20, 2015

Obstacles to Moving Up
Other immigrant groups, like Latin American professionals, face similar challenges. But African immigrants in general have a harder time integrating into the American workforce, demographers say. Africans from relatively prosperous, English-speaking countries such as Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa have an easier time navigating the system, according to Jeff Gross, director of the New Americans Integration Institute at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA). But others struggle. Among recently arrived African foreign-educated immigrants, the underemployment rate is 39 percent, compared to 20 percent of the college-educated U.S. workers and 25 percent of all foreign-educated immigrants, according to the MPI. The reasons—from a lack of professional networks to cultural barriers to misguided advice to racial discrimination—are complex, demographers say. Many African immigrants educated abroad have trouble getting licensed in the U.S.—and licensing requirements vary widely from state to state and from profession to profession. A law degree from a West African university is the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in the U.S. Then again, an engineer will have a much easier time than say, a doctor who graduated from medical school in Senegal. That doctor faces hurdles getting licensed and may have to start all over again—and then wait years to get placed in a postgraduate residency training program, Gross said. “If you’re a nurse or a doctor, there are so many federal and state requirements that you have to fill. It’s very, very complicated and time consuming,” Gross said. Whatever the profession, Gross said, “foreign degrees in general are often less valued than U.S. degrees.” Many immigrants pay hundreds of dollars to a service to validate their educational credentials. Some services are “rip-offs,” others are legitimate, Gross said. Even in the latter case, different states accept documentation from different credentialing services. “And if you don’t come to a job interview and approach it with an American attitude, an American style and an American resume, that credentialing document won’t do you much good,” Gross said. Some states are trying to streamline the process. Michigan, for instance, worked closely withUpwardly Global, an employment advocacy agency for immigrants, to craft clear-cut licensing guides for 20 professions, so immigrants know exactly how to proceed, said Karen Phillippi, deputy director of the Michigan Office for New Americans. The state plans to add 10 new guides each year. Last year, the state passed a “Barber Bill.” In the past, barbers needed 2000 hours of training to get licensed. Now, experienced barbers who can prove they have recent experience and training can drastically reduce the number of instruction required to get a license. Meanwhile, African-style hair braiders have sued in 12 states, arguing that strict licensing requirements impede their ability to earn a living. In February, a bill was introduced in the Illinois General Assembly declaring a legal immigrant cannot be denied a professional license because of their federal immigration status. Some cities have become part of a Welcoming America network, crafting policies to aid immigrants. The program started 10 years ago in Tennessee and expanded to a national initiative.Shelbyville, Tennessee, which experienced a sudden influx of Somali immigrants, was one of the first cities to tackle this approach, said Rachel Peric, Welcoming America’s Deputy Director. “The dividends of investing in this community have a multiplier effect,” said Tadd Wamester, director of regional growth and online programs for Upwardly Global. “This should be looked at as going across generations. Investing in parents is also investing in children.”Rapid Growth

Cultural Barriers
When they arrive in the U.S., many Africans feel the pressure to get a job, fast. In 2013, according to the MPI, 76 percent of them were working in the civilian work force, compared to 67 percent of the overall foreign-born population and 63 percent of native-born Americans. The pressure to find a job, any job, means that they often find work beneath their skill level, social scientists say. When he first came to the U.S., Diallo said, he stayed with his uncle, who urged him to forget about his dreams of professional glory and drive a cab. “You have to survive,” his uncle told him, “you don’t have to aim high.” Other immigrants, faced with the barriers of licensing and trying to get university transcripts from war-torn countries, give up completely. There are bills to be paid, family to take care of back home. “When you are a professional in your country of birth, you come here and you think, ‘Do I have to go back to school?’” said Coumba Gueye, who hails from Senegal and now counsels other African immigrants on housing for the African Services Committee in Harlem. “It happened to my father. He was a teacher back home, but he ended up doing meaningless jobs,” Gueye said. Her brother tried going back to school, she said, but dropped out to drive a cab to support his family. For his part, Diallo said, he had to break out of the insular world of his community. “You have to be strong-minded,” said Diallo. Through networking, he found out about the training programs at Upwardly Global and now works as an intake associate with new members. “The people in your community aren’t really connected to opportunities.” He tells new immigrants it’s crucial to understand American culture. Case in point, his first job interview: When the interviewer said, “Tell me about yourself,” Diallo did what they do in Guinea. He told them all about his family. In excruciating detail. “It was hilarious,” Diallo said, laughing. “I was going on and on and no one told me, that’s not what they wanted to know. I walked out of that interview, confident I had a job. I never heard from them again. Now, I understand what I was doing was inappropriate.”Sacrifice
At the “African Market” on 116th Street in Harlem, expats peddle everything from shea butter and wooden sculptures to jewelry and ornately patterned fabric. Business is slow, so Haddi, the proprietor of Fatima’s African Hair Braiding and Boutique, takes advantage of the downtime to braid her youngest daughter’s hair. [caption id="attachment_18196" align="alignright" width="486"]
Photo Credit: Ed Lefkowicz[/caption] Back home in The Gambia, West Africa, Haddi, 55, said she had a college degree and a cushy bank job. Twenty-six years ago, she moved to New York to be with her husband who was studying there. Adjusting to American-style racism was tough. “They tell you to go back to Africa, even though their family are immigrants, too,” said Haddi, who asked just to be identified by her first name only because she doesn’t want to offend her family. Eventually, she found work on an assembly line. She just wanted to do something, anything. Later, she opened her own hair-braiding salon on the side. Weekdays were spent at the factory; weekends were spent at the salon. Four years ago, she became a U.S. citizen. It’s how she and her husband put two kids through prep school and then college. Now, she’s got one more kid to get through to the finish line. “I want my children to have the education I didn’t have,” said Haddi, who now spends all her time at her boutique in the African market. “Yes, I went to college. But I want more for them. All parents want more for their children.”
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This write up resonates very well, and most (if not all) immigrants into this country will identify with it. There are no quick fixes. “Overcoming” requires courage, determination and drive, looking beyond your community and your immediate contacts, a willingness to dare, to try something positive and new, and being open. Sheer luck…….can this be left out? Every immigrant will always have a story, pursue with tenacity and let setbacks not empty you of steam.