Where did you learn about this? I'd like to investigate in more detail.
A quick Google turned up a few articles: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-04-17/news/950417013... (1995, but there are other sources).
Doctors and other higher ed degrees tend to have a strong English component, which is a plus in the tourist industry.
Visit Cuba and talk to people. The barman, the taxi driver, the bellhop, the waiter can easily earn in a day's tips in hard currency, over a month's wages in local currency, especially if they speak good English. It was the same in Russia when the USSR imploded. The chances were your taxi driver in Moscow had a physics PhD and had quit or was moonlighting from their official job in a research institute...
It's possible that they are all lying, but the staff said it and the official gov welcomer said it, so it's likely true.
[1] Of course there were people with the old cars, but these were passed down and are, as I understand it, required by law to act as a mini-bus service.
[2] Although internet in Cuba is only officially available by buying a hourly code on a scratcher card from the telephone company and then Wifi is in the parks in Havana, I did notice bootleg Wifi SSIDs when walking the streets. They were easy to spot even without "war-walking" since they are a good 1/2 km from any nearby park and had usually a dozen folks on their phones browsing Facebook or using Skype. I suspect it's either an insider connection at the telephone company OR a clandestine Directway / Hughesnet satellite (there are NO visible dishes in Cuba, I believe it must be illegal).