Some of the most profitable companies in today’s economy are in the tech industry. You wouldn’t know that, though, by looking at the salaries of the employees who have helped make these companies so successful–H-1B visa holders. The H-1B visa program permits employers to temporarily hire non-immigrants–many of whom are from China or India–to fill specialized jobs, mostly in the IT sector.
A survey the Center for Immigration Studies conducted in 2005 revealed that H-1B workers are overwhelmingly concentrated at the bottom of the U.S. pay scale and a significant number of these workers earn less than the prevailing wage employers claim. In fact many earn $13,000 less than Americans in the same position and geographic location.
