Life Musings

The following paragraphs have been excerpted from H-1B Professionals and Wages: Setting the Record Straight, an outstanding report by the National Foundation for American Policy. It addresses the misinformation and hysteria about how the H-1B visa program is dragging American high-tech salary levels down. The report could stand to be more balanced, but I do love the way it provides actual statistical data and avoid one common mistake: confusing the prevailing wage determination with the actual wages paid.

A final issue worth discussing is the extent to which wages in the United States are significantly higher than those in other nations. While much anxiety has emerged in recent years about companies locatingwork outside the United States, it seems contradictory for critics of “outsourcing” to also oppose theentry of skilled professionals into the United States.

Companies possess legitimate reasons to place resources in whatever geographical location will best serve the interests of customers, shareholders, and a company’s broader workforce, since unprofitablefirms serve none of those interests well or for very long. However, most people would agree that U.S.government policy should not, in effect, force companies to locate more of its workforce outside the country by prohibiting foreign-born professionals to work inside the United States.

The median salary for a computer software engineer is $7,273 in Bangalore and $5,244 in Bombay,compared to $60,000 in Boston and $65,000 in New York, according to the Seattle-based market researchfirm PayScale.28 Those who would bar the door to foreign nationals being hired on H-1B visas – many graduating from U.S. universities – need to explain why it would be better if those individuals werehired in other nations by either U.S. or foreign companies.

I also recommend the article Do H-1B Workers Drag US Salary Levels Down? for a shorter, less exhaustive, but more balanced discussion of this particular issue.