Underpayment of H-1B Wages?

There is still some argument as to the practice of under-paying H-1B workers in Computer-related occupations. Does it exist? Is it pervasive?

"In 2006, 51% of new H-1B recipients were in computer-related occupations, including 48% in the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services occupational category of "occupations in systems analysis and programming," which includes many S&E occupations, such as computer
scientist, and technician occupations, such as programmer." http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind08/c3/tt03-29.htm

The most recent H-1B salary information (I'm aware of) is 2006 data from Homeland Security.

Average annual salary of new recipients of H-1B
temporary work visas, by occupation and degree:
FY 2006 (Dollars)

H-1B Computer-related occupations

All degree levels = 56,200.00

Bachelor's = 56,000.00
Master's = 55,600.00
Professional = 71,200.00
Doctorate = 80,400.00

SOURCE: Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, special tabulations. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind08/c3/tt03-29.htm

For comparison, to H-1B salaries I've taken the published Mean Annual wage and created an average mean from all occupations within the BLS-OES 15-1000 Computer Specialists SOC classification. SOC 15-1000 (link) is identical to the DOT classified Computer related occupations (link)

Avg. Mean Annual Salary 2006:

15-1000 Computer Specialists = $69,123.42
Total Employment 2006 = 2,969,510
Total Mean Annual in Dollars = $205,262,675,900.00

http://www.bls.gov/oes/2006/may/oes150000.htm

Looking back at the H-1B salaries, we see that those H-1Bs with a Master's degree were paid $400.00 less than H-1Bs with Bachelor's degrees. I did the math in an earlier blog which puts the H-1B group (Computer related) with Master's degrees at 25,490 and the Bachelors degrees at 31,862.


Annual Salary 2006:
15-1000 Computer Specialists = $69,123.42 (Avg. Mean all degree levels)

H-1B Computer Specialist = $56,200.00 (Avg. all degree levels)

H-1B Underpayment = $12,923.42

(Yes, I comparing a Avg. Mean to an Average -- perhaps a couple dollars difference?)

Let's assume for a moment that business and government are interested in controlling the salaries of Computer Specialists. Assume, the method is importing lower paid specialists and the target salary is (the H-1B salary) $56,200.00.

This creates a circular problem for the government, the 2006 taxable gross wages for the occupation was $205 Billion. Reducing the salaries to $56,200.00 will reduce the tax base by $38 Billion. Of course to remedy this loss, the government will need to authorize 682,851 computer related visas (23% of the occupation) to recover from the tax loss -- that is "if" everyone else is retained. There is no telling how many foreclosures increasing immigration will cause in our zero growth economy.

Additionally, most of that $38 Billion was disposable income the lubricant for the economy.


2006, 15-1000 Computer Specialists ___ Employed ___ Mean Annual

Computer and Information Scientists, Research 27,650 ___ $96,440
Computer Programmers 396,020 ___ $69,500
Computer Software Engineers, Applications 472,520 ___ $82,000
Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software 329,060 ___ $87,250
Computer Support Specialists 514,460 ___ $44,350
Computer Systems Analysts 446,460 ___ $72,230
Database Administrators 109,840 ___ $67,460
Network and Computer Systems Administrators 289,520 ___ $65,260
Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts 203,710 ___ $67,460
Computer Specialists, All Other 180,270 ___ $69,370

U.S. Employment Perfomance in 21st Century

Delta between growth in working age population (16 and over) and the growth in employment levels:

Click image to enlarge.

Delta between growth in Bachelor's degree (and higher) in population (25 and over) and the growth in Bachelor's degree (and higher) employment levels:

Click image to enlarge.

Data:

Downloaded from www.bls.gov/data (CPS) on July 21, 2009.

Series Id: LNU00000000
Not Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Unadj) Population Level
Labor force status: Civilian noninstitutional population
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 16 years and over

Series Id: LNU02000000
Not Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Unadj) Employment Level
Labor force status: Employed
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 16 years and over

Series Id: LNU00027662
Not Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Unadj) Population Level - Bachelor?s degree and higher, 25 yrs. & over
Labor force status: Civilian noninstitutional population
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 25 years and over
Educational attainment: College graduates

Series Id: LNU02027662
Not Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Unadj) Employment Level - Bachelor?s degree and higher, 25 yrs. & over
Labor force status: Employed
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 25 years and over
Educational attainment: College graduates