H-1B workers paid more than US citizens
April 28 2009 by Liam Clifford
Despite concerns that companies will employ skilled work visa holders (H-1B visa holders) over US citizens to cut costs, new research claims that many H-1B visa holders employed in IT are actually paid more on average than US workers.
A salary survey of 50,000 IT professionals was carried out by Information Week, looking at salaries from 2000 to 2005. The survey found that foreign work visa holders in the IT industry, earned an average of 5-9% more than US citizens working in the same industry with the same qualifications and education levels.
The report published off the back of the survey, called 'Does High-Skill Immigration Make Everyone Better Off?' was later released by two Maryland University researchers. The report concluded, ‘there was no downward pressure on the pay of U.S. citizens.’
Previous reports that have found skilled immigrants working in the US on H-1B visas, L-1 visas or Green Cards being paid less than US citizens, making them more attractive to employers, did not take into account skills, education and qualification differences, claim the report’s authors.
The report claims that companies benefit form hiring foreign workers not by gaining financially, but gaining a better connection with the global market.
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