Analysis of Foreign Workers in the U.S.

Arun Ranganathan / Brian Detweiler / Jacques Anthony
December 15th, 2016

Agenda

  • H-1B
    • Center for Immigration Studies Report
  • PERM (Program Electronic Review Management)
    • Statistics
    • State-Level Salaries
    • Trends Over Time

H-1B Overview

  • Demand > Supply
    • 172,500 H-1B Labor Condition Applications submitted in FY 2015
    • Only 85,000 total available

How to Work in the U.S.

  • Job must qualify as speciality occupation
    • >= Bachelor's degree
    • Licenses or special trainings may be considered
  • First 20,000 H-1B awarded Master's degree+

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Center for Immigration Studies Report, FY 2005

  • Claims:
    • Businesses abusing H-1B for cheap labor
    • Computer Programmers
      • 84% of prevailing wage claims below the median
      • $16,000 below median on average

Our Findings, Computer Programmers FY 2015

  • 88.92% of prevailing wage claims below the median
  • Average prevailing wage claim was $17,510 below median
    • On par with 21% inflation
  • Essentially no change since 2005 title

Our Findings, All Occupations FY 2015

  • H-1B Prevailing Wages
    • 72.68% prevailing wage claims below median
    • Standard deviation of $23,159 title

Our Findings, All Occupations FY 2015

  • H-1B Actual Wages
    • 39.24% prevailing wage claims below median
    • $5,861 below median on average
    • Standard deviation of $31,895 title

PERM Visas

  • First step of Green Card process
  • Employer must be prepared to hire applicant
    • Must prove there are not enough US citizens or permanent residents qualified for the position

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PERM Statistics

  • Number of Approved PERM visas increasing drastically
    • Doubled from 2010 to 2016
  • However, there was no considerable salary difference within education levels

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PERM Statistics

  • PERM salaries 15% higher than H-1B on average (FY 2016)
  • Salaries vary widely from state to state
  • Salary gap tends to narrow with more prestigious job titles
  • QUIZ: Average UNO student vs. Harvard PERM salary?

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PERM Statistics

  • No considerable salary difference within education levels

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PERM Statistics

Employer Applications Average Salary
Microsoft 15,089 $103,650
Cognizant 13,387 $73,085
Intel 6,212 $90,279
Google 5,101 $121,872
Amazon 3,406 $98,049

State-Level Salaries

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Trends Over Time

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