Quote: (01-11-2015 12:30 PM)olspice1588 Wrote:
Quote: (01-11-2015 10:18 AM)BTman Wrote:
This might be off topic, but something I have always wondered. How come indians In the UK seem to do a lot of low level jobs? For example whenever I am in London I see a ton of British Indians (not fobs) working in security at airports, McDonalds, bus drivers, retail jobs (without ownership interest), waiters, etc. In the US it is very rare to see a Indian working at McDonalds, retail stores (they don't own) or TSA. Most Indians in the US seem to be some sort of professional whether it be doctor, IT, engineer, etc.
These often are second- or third-generation Indians whose parents migrated to England long before other Indians did to America.
Give it another decade or two in America, and you'll see the kids of parents (who were these highly-sought professionals you mentioned) taking on these low level jobs.
The Indians in the UK are not same types as in the US. The UK Indians are roughly half Punjabi, and half Gujurati, and there’s very few Indians from other states.
The Punjabis were mostly from villages near Jullundur in Punjab, and most of them are not educated. Very few of the original generation of immigrants from Punjab to UK are fluent in English. They all worked in blue collar jobs when in UK. Many Punjabi families are not that bothered about academics, so a lot of the kids do blue collar work too – that’s why you’ll see them working in shops or stores. You also have kids working part time whilst studying.
I have relatives who came from Punjab in the late 1950s, so there’s now Indian kids in UK whose parents were born in UK too. I have nephews and nieces who can barely speak any Punjabi, because both of their parents speak English at home. Punjabis also like to drink a lot and have a good time, so they’re pretty assimilated and a lot of them have game.
I can’t speak for the Gujuratis, but they seem more from the business background rather than farmer background like Punjabis. There’s also different waves of them – some are from India, and others are via Africa.
There’s a shit load of Indians doing skilled work too – tons of Indian doctors, lawyers, scientists, IT workers. There’s also Indian cops and strippers in UK!
As for the US, there seems to be a lot more H1-B skilled visa immigrants, so they come over as doctors, engineers, etc. The unskilled ones are the ones working in cabs, 7-11s and gas stations. I have a lot of relatives in the US and they tend to do stuff like construction, real estate, factories, smoke shops and some make a killing as truck drivers.