[1rudeboy]

I don't get it . . . if EE salaries have leveled-off after rising for 10 years, then what about all those H1-B workers that were allegedly driving the salaries down?

[TopQuark]

what about all those H1-B workers that were allegedly driving the salaries down? I am not sure who made the allegations that H1-B workers were dribving the salaries down. Certain types of labor where simply not available and were filled with H1-B. To give an example, if an H1-B worker that programs in Java is not hired, it will not increase the salary of an American worker in the next cubicle who programs in COBOL. The vacancy in that case would simply remain unfilled.

The price change is only one mechanism to bring an equilibrium. There also may be rationing, and that is what H1B was designed to combat: shortage of labor.

[JohnSmithee]

"I don't get it . . . if EE salaries have leveled-off after rising for 10 years, then what about all those H1-B workers that were allegedly driving the salaries down?"

I always thought most of the H1-Bs were in IT, and not engineering. This is a pretty big increase in average salary over the last ten years. It's good work if you can get it.

[JohnSmithee]

"I don't get it . . . if EE salaries have leveled-off after rising for 10 years, then what about all those H1-B workers that were allegedly driving the salaries down?"

I don't think it's taking place. I checked out some IT salaries from 2001 and they are up from the mid to late 1990's. I have noticed in the last year or so that salaries are still very high even with increased outsourcing and layoffs in IT.

Here is some info. from a fairly recent IT survey:

http://archive.infoworld.com/articles/ca/xml/01/06/25/010625cafeature2.xml