Underemployment and the Struggles of International Students

UNDEREMPLOYMENT AND THE
STRUGGLES OF THE
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Name of Student
Name of University

Introduction
• The recent decade has seen an increase
in the number of students going abroad
for higher education.
 Earning education outside of one’s own
comfort place is hard, and moving out of
one’s own country for higher education
gets tougher.
 Underemployment includes employees in full-
time jobs who cannot use all their skills.
Students studying abroad fall a prey to this.
They hardly realize that they are killing their
potentials and when they realize it, they get

International Students and some of their
issues
International students faces several issues while studying abroad. The
majority of the issues faced by them are as follows:
Underemployment and struggling to pay their bills
Communication
Language barrier
Cultural Shock
Financial problems

Underemployment- the main issue
• Underemployment after completion of college: The final peg in the
coffin would be not getting a job after the completion of the course.
Such instances not only degrade the mental status of the student but
also challenges the further sustenance in that particular country.
• Graduates represent a growing proportion of individuals entering the
workforce. They are forced to take up a job in order to meet their daily
needs, that does not match their educational qualification (Akanwa,
2015). They do not have any other option than entering a precarious
job market that is characterized by underemployment.
• Precarious work refers to low-skill, low-autonomy work , low wage that
undermines a person’s ability to fulfill their needs for survival and self-
determination.

Struggles associated with
underemployment
• Underemployed students lacked in the capability of
acquiring financial stability, strong social relations and self-
determination.
• Disgruntlement was reported, that their masters degree
experience contradicted previous messages about the
utilization of a degree from college in getting employed
(Mesidor & Sly, 2016).
• Being underemployed is depressing and moreover working
in an environment where everyone else has lower
educational level is difficult.

Financial status of family leads to
underemployment
• Sustenance in the foreign country gets difficult and is an added
expense for the family staying at some other country.
• The student opts for jobs irrespective of its nature that affects their
academic progress.
• Family expectations stop them from leaving the job though they are
not satisfied by the work environment.
• Underemployment highly demotivates the students and low income
often leads them to get involved in illegal jobs.