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Submitted by Dis Information, Jan 3, 2008 18:23

Kathy Robertson: "Companies are LYING about a shortage because they want to bring in cheap labor"

A Dec 2005 Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) report (by John Miano, Founder Programmers Guild) asserts that H-1B computer programmers are underpaid.

A part of this report compares annual wage estimates from Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey (a government effort to collect wages by occupation and geographic location) with H-1B wage on Labor Condition Application (LCA) form filed by employers with the Department of Labor (DOL). The LCA generally has prevailing wage which is the "minimum" wage required by DOL. National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) recreated the CIS report by making editing decisions in inclusion of job titles as being in the "computer programmer" occupation similar to those decisions in the CIS report. NFAP confirmed that the CIS report used exclusively the "minimum" wage listed on LCA.

Such a comparison has the following shortcomings.

(a) The actual "starting" wage of H-1B is on I-129 form filed with USCIS. This amount is usually higher then "minimum" wage. NFAP found that the average actual "starting" wage was 22+% higher then "minimum" wage for 100 randomly selected H-1Bs.

(b) The actual "starting" wage (and hence the wage on LCA) does not take into account wage increases after starting the job.

(c) OES estimates are for all workers (not just new hires) at a firm and are not age-adjusted. By definition, LCA is for new hires.

(d) OES estimates include compensation, particularly bonuses, which are fairly common in white-collar occupations such as programmer. Employers are prohibited from including bonus on LCA.

(e) H-1B wage does not take into account the fedral fees and legal overhead incurred by employer for H-1B and green card, if any, applications.

The CIS report mentions illogical difference in wages supposedly paid by similar companies located in the same geographic locations. For example, it would take less than 20 minutes to drive from the headquarters of Intuit to Siebel Systems, yet according to the report, as compared to the OES average, Intuit pays its H-1Bs nearly $30,000 more than Siebel pays its H-1B. Similarly, according to the report, relative to the OES average, Adobe Systems typically pays its H-1Bs nearly $40,000 more than the Oracle Corporation pays its H-1Bs, even though both are S&P 500 companies with headquarters within a 30-minute drive of each other. Given that H-1Bs can move from one employer to another and the lack of evidence that employers maintain different pay scales for H-1Bs, this is another clue to the unreliable character of the report.

In NFAP's review, none of the LCAs seemed to be for programmers of older, legacy software such as Fortran or COBOL – although there still are many such jobs in U.S. industry. If a firm was hiring H-1B programmers to replace "more expensive" American workers, we might expect that older programming languages, known disproportionately by older programmers, would be in demand.

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
GuildY/ ZazonY wrote: "Alan Greenspan, March 2007 "If we open up a significant window for skilled workers, that would suppress the... [MORE]	suppress TOP EARNER wages	Jan 30, 2008 12:57
Asking the Department of Labor to regulate the number of visas and green cards to issue is like asking a... [MORE]	No visa for you	Jan 15, 2008 02:30
GuildY/ ZazonY wrote: "Alan Greenspan, March 2007 "If we open up a significant window for skilled workers, that would suppress the... [MORE]	Little empirical evidence!	Jan 8, 2008 17:57
Kathy Robertson: "When there are millions of Americans out of work due to outsourcing, why do we need to bring... [MORE]	Data	Jan 7, 2008 12:17
S. Kolger wrote: "every other type of white-collar jobs stop getting offshored to India" (1) New H-1Bs account for .07% of... [MORE]	Data	Jan 7, 2008 12:13
The people who are finding rising wages and full employment in the IT sector are definitely moving in different social... [MORE]	S. Kolger	Jan 5, 2008 09:46
Kim Berry (President, Programmers Guild) wrote: " ..." IEEE USA is IEEE's policy wing, supported mainly by annual assessment paid by... [MORE]	IEEE USA's Proposal	Jan 4, 2008 12:10
GuildY/ ZazonY wrote: "Alan Greenspan, March 2007 "If we open up a significant window for skilled workers, that would suppress the... [MORE]	Really!	Jan 4, 2008 12:04
H1-B petitions approved vs H1-B workers ------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) From How many H-1B visa workers? Counts vary VALLEY EMPLOYERS AMONG TOP USERS By... [MORE]	Never Mind!	Jan 4, 2008 10:24
Kathy Robertson wrote: "When there are millions of Americans out of work" The unemployment rate in IT sector is a whopping... [MORE]	Just Do It!	Jan 4, 2008 10:10
It is well known within the tech industry that the primary reason that companies are so much in love with... [MORE]	Clearing Smoke Bombs	Jan 3, 2008 20:36
Kathy Robertson: "Companies are LYING about a shortage because they want to bring in cheap labor" Repeat something loud and long... [MORE]	Rhetorical Rhapsody	Jan 3, 2008 18:27
Kathy Robertson: "Companies are LYING about a shortage because they want to bring in cheap labor" A Dec 2005 Center for...	Dis Information	Jan 3, 2008 18:23
S. Kolger wrote: "when American workers are no longer required to train their H-1B replacements" (1) From The Grassley Visa Tax... [MORE]	Train H-1B Replacement?	Jan 3, 2008 10:19
Bruce de la Vega wrote: "B. Lindsay Lowell and Harold Salzman at the Urban Institute that the USA is over-flowing... [MORE]	Caveat	Jan 3, 2008 10:06
Your article is well spiced because you hit the hammer on the nail.thanks [MORE]	moradeyo afeez	Jan 3, 2008 03:22
Background: U.S. STEM Workforce Shows No Sign of Impending Shortages http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB1505/index1.html "The pool of S&E-qualified secondary and postsecondary graduates is several times... [MORE]	Dana Rothrock	Jan 2, 2008 19:01
As "former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor", Ms. Furchtgott-Roth certainly knows that DOL is knowingly rubber-stamping labor... [MORE]	Kim Berry	Jan 2, 2008 16:21
"Allowing the Labor Department to adjust legal immigration every quarter to match U.S. need for foreign labor would help America... [MORE]	Bruce de la Vega	Jan 2, 2008 13:40
"labor certification from the Labor Department... requires the prospective employer to affirm that he has determined that no American workers... [MORE]	Bruce de la Vega	Jan 2, 2008 13:29
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I hate the arcane nature of bureacracy and public policy. However, because we need to protect our sovereignty and regulate... [MORE]	Ken	Jan 2, 2008 16:38
There is a principle of economics that, in a free market (which we do NOT have) there can be neither... [MORE]	Bruce de la Vega	Jan 2, 2008 18:05
This is fine as far as you have gone. However... Let's give the Department of Labor more lattitude. Perhaps they could... [MORE]	Rev. Stephen M. King	Jan 2, 2008 12:28
When there are millions of Americans out of work due to outsourcing, why do we need to bring in temporary... [MORE]	Kathy Robertson	Jan 2, 2008 09:16
If you listen to the CEO/CFO/HR people at the large companies looking to import workers a half way intelligent person... [MORE]	Gene	Jan 2, 2008 13:41
Instead of a well thought-out analysis of the issues, we get a rehash of all of the old arguments Big... [MORE]	S. Kolger	Jan 2, 2008 08:39
The writer of this article does not seem to be much of a believer in Democracy. She wants to take... [MORE]	Voter	Jan 2, 2008 07:22