Posted on 10/29/2005 7:25:40 AM PDT by vrwc0915
It appears there is hard evidence to prove that employers are using the H-1B visa program to hire cheap labor; that is, to pay lower wages than the national average for programming jobs.
According to “The Bottom of the Pay Scale: Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers — F.Y. 2004,” a report by Programmers Guild board member John Miano, non-U.S. citizens working in the United States on an H-1B visa are paid “significantly less than their American counterparts.” How much less? “On average, applications for H-1B workers in computer occupations were for wages $13,000 less than Americans in the same occupation and state.”
Miano based his report on OES (Occupational Employment Statistics) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which estimates wages for the entire country by state and metropolitan area. The report’s H-1B wage data came from the U.S. Department of Labor’s H-1B disclosure Web site.
Miano went out of his way to be balanced, and whenever possible he gave the benefit of the doubt to the employer. For example, he used OES data from 2003 because this is the wage information that would have been available to the employers when filing an LCA (labor condition application).
Miano had some difficulty matching OES job codes with LCA job titles, which employers typically create. Where both the OES and the LCA listed a job as “programmer/analyst,” Miano took the conservative approach of assuming that the LCA was describing a programmer, a job title that typically earns a lower wage than a systems analyst.
Nonetheless, Miano’s report shows that wages paid to H-1B workers in computer programming occupations had a mean salary of $52,312, while the OES mean was $67,700; a difference of $15,388. The report also lists the OES median salary as $65,003, or $12,691 higher than the H-1B median.
When you look at computer job titles by state, California has one of the biggest differentials between OES salaries and H-1B salaries. The average salary for a programmer in California is $73,960, according to the OES. The average salary paid to an H-1B visa worker for the same job is $53,387; a difference of $20,573.
Here are some other interesting national wage comparisons: The mean salary of an H-1B computer scientist is $78,169, versus $90,146 according to the OES. For an H-1B network analyst, the mean salary is $55,358, versus the OES mean salary of $64,799. And for the title “system administrator,” there was a $17,478 difference in salary between the H-1B mean and the OES mean.
H-1B visa workers were also concentrated at the bottom end of the wage scale, with the majority of H-1B visa workers in the 10-24 percentile range. “That means the largest concentration of H-1B workers make less than [the] highest 75 percent of the U.S. wage earners,” the report notes.
While it would be difficult to prove that any one particular employer is hiring foreign workers to pay less, the statistics show us that, for whatever reason, this is exactly what is happening on a nationwide basis. Miano says lobbyists will admit that a small number of companies are abusing the H-1B program, but what he has found in this research is that almost everyone is abusing it.
“Abuse is by far more common than legitimate use,” he says.
I think you are right. I don't want national healthcare. However, if employees will not offer benefits in order to be competetive with thirds world countries, what choice is there? Our system is built on a business model for benefits. My Dad never thought that was a good idea, he was right as he often was.
ping
> This program was intended to help employers out with shortages, not allow them to pay below market rates!
Contract openings are up in the last year, but they are trying to hold the rates to 2002 levels. This is how they establish the phony shortage! It is so obvious now.
> Mark my words. US will start to get the national health care system in 2008.
Somehow Hitlery will be able to push both this and work the immigration / jobs angle against the republican elitists.
> As an actual citizen of the US, I should enjoy some benefits over non-citizens
Damn right. You should enjoy the benefits of the spilled blood of our forefathers and the brave soldiers protecting us now. H1s have NO STAKE in the country. Damned free traitors don't get this. They are so narrow minded.
> employer must attest that absolutely NO qualified US citizens applied for the job
at the offered rate. The natural economics of the situation are being distorted by selective violation of our immigration laws.
So the law in question is predicated on the notion that H1-B visas will only be used to fill labor shortages.
Instead, companies are using it to get cheap labor below the going market rate.
I agree 100 percent.
It is impossible to prove that a company did not try to hire an American citizen. All the company needs to do is place an add in a paper - interview a couple of applicants and say they were not qualified. It is done every day and it satisfies the requirements.
> Iterated Systems (if I remember the name correctly), a company using fractal analysis to compress images.
I remember them. It was a cool idea. I tried out their stuff. At the time (1995 or so) we went with JPEG for several reasons.
> they had to play this game to "prove" no Americans were available who could do this job.
The surprising thing about the oh-so-intelligent free traitors is that they are not smart enough to understand this inevitable consequence to a market-distorting law such as all special work visa laws. Our immigration policy should be orthogonal to the free market - it should stand on its own to promote AMERICAN values, which extend far beyond pure dollars. Free traitors are fools.
> shear stupidity
Learn to spell, free-traitor.
> I've had the "privilege" of working with H1-B and offshore "programmers" and I can tell you they have been woefully under skilled and lack the independent drive of their US counterparts.
Half of them are bloodthirsty upper-caste types, or islamist; the other half are subservient lower-caste types. NExt to none of them have any roots or loyalty to the US. The real problem is the damage to our society. The dumba$$ free traitors can't see this as they are blinded by either $$ or their simpleminded ideology.
> You are a complete socialist, inside and out, seething with anger and ready for a revolt.
You know, TQ, you don't have to be a socialist to be ready to revolt. Some of us are tired of "conservative" politicians who carry water for one-world globalists.
> I don't wrestle with pigs and children.
Hi TQ. What are your problems, respectively, with pigs, and with children?
Couple of questions. Are you in the US? Are you a US citizen?
It is a key point. Why someone should risk his life to protect a section of the global market place, unless the pay for doing it were high enough? Are the free traders willing to die for their ideology?
> Are the free traders willing to die for their ideology?
They are too simpleminded to think about this.
Well, Bush is allowing a flood of illegals in to do the work at the bottom of the labor chain, driving down wages for the unskilled Americans, I see no reason to favor any group.
Absolutely, until everyone gets hit with unfair wage competition nothing will change..lets get more lawyers and doctors in here and accountants and see them scream when their wages drop 50% due to competition...not just a flood of unskilled workers...this country and Presidente Bush are a disgrace..
"In what looks to be a first in the United States, California is allowing 30 physicians and 30 dentists from Mexico to bypass its medical licensure system and practice in the state. The Mexican doctors will work under a three-year, nonrenewable license at designated nonprofit clinics as soon as July 1, if money can be secured for the program. The pilot is being touted as a short-term measure to address the need of the state's 950,000 Mexican agricultural workers, few of whom have access to any physician, let alone one who speaks Spanish. The California Medical Assn., while acknowledging this need, said bringing in Mexican doctors to treat Mexican citizens in the United States undermines California's licensing system. "We should have a level playing field, with one criterion for licensing professionals, so that California residents know that their doctor is qualified," said Anmol S. Mahal, MD, vice chair of the CMA board of trustees and a leader of the organization's opposition to the bill."
My brother will suffer in a layoff soon, but not before he can train his H-1B replacement.
The current crop of management in this country will destroy this Nation. I'm kind of looking forward to anarchy.
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