The term “brain waste” describes the situation of immigrants who were skilled professionals in their home countries but have been forced to take unskilled jobs in their new country.

Brain waste（人才浪费）指在本国身为受过训练的专业人员在移民国被迫从事非技术性工作的情形。

Most of these immigrants wind up underemployed because of barriers like language, lack of access to job networks, or credentialing requirements that are different from those in other countries.

这些移民大部分都因为语言障碍、缺少就业关系网或者资质要求与其他国家不同等原因而被迫“低就”。

For immigrants, it means bringing home less money than they have the potential to earn. For employers, it means fewer skilled applicants¹ in their hiring pools.

对移民来说，这就意味着他们实际挣到的钱比本该凭能力挣到的要少。对雇主来说，意味着少了一些有技能的应聘人员。

If the labour market cannot absorb the migrants at the level of their qualifications, the phenomenon changes its nature: brain drain from the sending countries becomes 'brain waste' for the migrants.

如果劳动力市场不能按照移民的资质将其吸收进来，那么移民来源国面临的将是brain drain（人才流失），而移民本身则面临“人才浪费”的境地。