An April 2020 report issued by the Governor’s Office on Policy Innovation and the Future recommends steps that Maine can take to help foreign educated and trained professionals work in their chosen careers and to their highest potential.
Maine’s foreign born population is highly educated, with nearly comparable rates of undergraduate degrees, and higher rates of graduate degrees (17.2% compared to 11.2%) than native Mainers. But “brain waste” is prevalent due to multiple barriers preventing them from putting their education and experience to full use. Indeed, many are working in jobs that may require at best a high school degree, when they worked as doctors, engineers, accountants, lawyers and judges before coming to the U.S.
The barriers to being able to work to their fullest potential are many, from imperfect English to professional licensing criteria that may not accept their foreign university degrees or experience.
Supporting Maine’s Foreign-Trained Professionals explains the many challenges, and makes concrete recommendations for short-term actions and long-term strategies the State can take to reduce the barriers they face when trying to get back into their fields in Maine. While addressing some of the challenges will require national action (for example, national boards establish the process for licensing doctors to practice medicine), if it has the political will, Maine can make great strides in barrier reduction.
As the State takes steps to recover from the economic damage of COVID-19, it should prioritize the report’s recommendations among them.