In some U.S. regions and industries, the foreign-born face significant levels of underemployment

More than ten percent of the population of the U.S. is foreign born, reflecting the rise of the market for global talent. But more than one million of this group is either unemployed or underemployed, working in unskilled jobs. In new research Qingfang Wang and Tetiana Lysenko look at the pattern of underemployment for the foreign born in the U.S. They find that both the foreign born and U.S. born whites have better employment outcomes in more ethnically diverse labor markets, while the foreign born are more sensitive to structural changes in the economy, especially in high tech services.