Indian immigrants are three times more likely to land skilled jobs than mexican immigrants of the same skill and education level

I came across a study cited in the Times of India which found that an Indian college graduate coming to the United States is three times more likely to land a skilled job than a Mexican immigrant of identical age, experience, and education. After examining years of US census data, the researchers found that an Indian college graduate had a 69 percent probability of obtaining a skilled job, while for a Mexican immigrant of identical age, experience, and education the probability was only 24 percent.

Even after controlling for age, experience, and education level, they found that highly educated immigrants from certain countries were less likely to obtain skilled jobs. In my opinion, the main differentiating factors that make a highly skilled and educated Mexican immigrants less likely to get a skilled job in the US than a similarly educated Indians are language and perception.

There are plenty of very highly skilled Mexicans in both the US and Mexico who do have a high level of fluency in the English language. I once spent a week at the world renowned Instituto Panamericano de Alta Dirección de Empresa (IPADE) among with some extremely well educated Mexican MBA students, many of whom spoke the language better than me (and I was born here).

But I think what this study examined is what may be the norm among highly educated Mexican immigrants: individuals who studied at good Mexican universities and performed well and continue to do so at their professional occupations. These highly skilled and educated professionals are the ones who end up in low skilled positions when they come to the United States— primarily because they have not learned English.

On the other hand, as India was under British control for almost an entire century (1858 through 1947), the English language is widely used throughout India and many (if not most) professional Indians are fluent in English. As such, they have an advantage over non English speaking immigrants from any other country in the world, not just Mexicans. For a highly skilled professional immigrant to the United States, fluency in English is a must for success.

The negative perception of Mexican immigrants as unskilled and uneducated that is held by many Americans also accounts for the disparity. When I lived in New York, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City, for example, despite the fact that professionals came into contact with English speaking Mexican professionals on almost a daily basis, many of my “homegrown American” colleagues still clung to the perception that these Mexican professionals were somehow less educated and less skilled. Many were shocked and awed by the notion that these Mexican immigrant professionals had advanced degrees and in many cases were more educated than they were.

This negative perception probably hurts a skilled, professional Mexican immigrant’s chances of getting a skilled job in the US as much or more than a lack of fluency in the English language.

The problem with traditional long held perceptions is that they are difficult to shake out of a person, regardless of his age, education, or skill level. In order to close the skilled jobs gap that exists between professional Mexican immigrants and professional Indian immigrants and to shed the perception that Mexican professionals are somehow less educated than American professionals, educated and skilled Mexican immigrants should do their best to learn English and gain fluency prior to immigrating to the US. Doing so will help get them the skilled jobs they are suited for and will help shed the long held and downright discriminatory perceptions about their educational attainment, skills, and abilities.