LOS ANGELES, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- More than 1.3 million college-educated legal immigrants are unemployed or working in unskilled jobs such as dishwashers or taxi drivers across the United States, according to a report published on Tuesday.

    Nearly one-fourth of them, or 317,000, live in California, said the report by the Migration Policy Institute.

    This is a massive "brain waste" of highly educated and skilled immigrant professionals who potentially could, with a little aid, help ease the nation's looming labor shortages in healthcare, computer sciences and other skilled jobs, the report said.

    Professionals from Latin America and Africa fare worse than those from Asia and Europe, the study found. Two of the biggest barriers are lack of English fluency and non-recognition of foreign academic and professional criteria.

    In some cases, for instance, U.S. medical systems require course work typically not required abroad, such as maternity and psychiatric nursing, according to Julie Hughes-Lederer, interim director of the Los Angeles County Regional Health Occupations Resource Center.

    Medical licensing exams are also different, such as the use of multiple-choice exams in the United States -- a format regarded as more difficult than the essay exams used in other countries, according to the report published by the Los Agneles Times.

    The report noted that competition for such professionals is heating up, with other countries such as Canada and Australia moving aggressively to attract them with better transition programs.