Results

H-1B Prevailing Wage Claims vs. Reality:
What They Say, Versus What They Pay

By Robert Hill, CUNY, Murphy Institute for Worker Education

Results

Using these sort and filter criteria, this returns 89,585 LCAs covering 232,487 potential H-1B workers for the computer technology SOC codes for fiscal year 2010. These numbers are smaller than Miano’s report numbers (300,000 LCAs covering 700,000 workers), but they are perhaps more accurate because there was no need to guess at which SOC codes to compare the LCA jobs to, and there was no need to use wildcard filters to extract relevant job titles. Table 4 below displays the number of LCAs and Worker Requests (the “weighted” LCAs) across the various SOC codes.

rH_H-1B_T04_Number_LCAs_Each_Condition

Across the 10 computer technology worker SOC codes studied, 67,062 LCAs (representing 119,911 potential jobs) reported only LCA_WAGE_FROM data. That is, approximately 74.8% of the total number of LCAs did not have the problem of having to determine whether the difference between LCA_WAGE_FROM and LCA_WAGE_TO was significant. 

Figure 11 below shows the distribution of LCAs and the potential number of workers requested across the 10 SOC codes. 

RH_H-1B_F11_Number_LCAs_and_Workers_Requested

Figure 11: Number of LCAs and Worker Requests by SOC Code, FY 2010

The distribution shows that SOC codes 15-1051 and 15-1021 were most represented in the total distribution of both SLAs and number of workers requested, with codes 15-1031 and 15-1032 trailing closely behind them. These four SOC code groups combined represented 82,482 of the total of 89,585 LCAs studied, or approximately 92%. Similar trends are observed for the number of workers requested. The same four SOC codes represented 222,031 requested workers out of the total of 232,487, or approximately 95.5%. 

Figures 12, 13, 14, and 15 below represent the same graphic distribution of data across the four identified variations of the data:

RH_H-1B_F12-15_Matrix

Results_animated_01

Figures 12-15 : LCA "From" wages vs. Prevailing Wages (Reported) vs. OES Wage Data, in rotation.

As was stated earlier, it was not known at the time of outset whether the problems of “From” versus “From ONLY” and non-weighted versus weighted would significantly affect the outcomes of the analysis, so the analysis was done on four branches of the data. Therefore, results for Figures 12 through 15 can be analysed in the same way. 
There are four horizontal lines drawn across each of the figures. Each of these four lines has 10 data points, which represent each of the 10 studied SOC codes. The four lines, top to bottom, are described as follows:

  • Top Dotted Line: The OES Wage Data (50%) for each of the 10 SOC codes.
  • Triangle Line: The LCA Wage Data (Median) for each of the 10 SOC codes.
  • Square Line: The Prevailing Wage Data (Median) for each of the 10 SOC codes.
  • Bottom Dashed Line: The OES Wage Data (25%) for each of the 10 SOC codes.

Specific wage data, expressed in terms of the median values, is included in the tables beneath each of the four figures. For instance, from Figure 12, the least-modified and most-inclusive of the data sets, SOC code 15-1011 shows that the OES median wage (50th percentile rank) for that occupation is $105,370. (Hereafter, this condition is referred to as the “primary data condition.”) That is, half of domestic workers earn MORE than that value, and half earn less. The 25th percentile rank wage for the same occupation is $78,620. The median LCA Wage for SOC code 15-1011, represented by the top-left-most triangle, is $95,000, and the LCA Prevailing Wage is reported as $79,955. 

Table 5 below displays the OES Wage Division Points for Percentile Rank Divisions for each of the 10 SOC codes. This data was copied directly from the 2009 OES Wage Library website, and it was used in the calculation of the numbers in Table 6.

rH_H-1B_T05_2009_OES_Wage_Division_Points

For 2009, the OES Wage Library reported that for SOC Code 15-1011, the Median Wage was $105,370. However, the OES data is further broken down into six divisions, three above the median and three below. These six divisions represent the 1st – 9th, 10th – 24th, 25th – 49th, 50th – 74th, 75th – 89th, and 90th – 100th percentile ranks. For instance, the bottom 10% of wages earned for SOC code 15-1011 was $61,480 or less. That is, anyone who earned more than or equal to $1 but less than $61,480 was counted in the 1st through 9th percentile ranks. A worker who earned more than or equal to $64,480 but less than $78,620 was counted in the 10th through 24th percentile ranks. At the top of the scale, a worker who earned anything more than or equal to $155,420 was counted in the 90th to 100th percentile ranks. 

Thus, it is possible to compare the LCA Wages that employers claimed to be paying their H-1B workers against the actual OES Wage Library data for the same SOC codes. By defining the percentile rank division points, it is possible to count the numbers and percentages of workers whose wages fall within each of the six divisions. Table 6 below shows this distribution.

Important_Note

rH_H-1B_T06_Distribution_LCA_Wages_OES_Divisions

For SOC code 15-1011 shown above, 99 out of the 675 workers, or 14.67%, had reported LCA Wages that were greater than or equal to $1 but less than $61,480 (as drawn from Table 5). Similarly, 80 workers, or 11.85%, had reported LCA Wages that were greater than or equal to $61,480 but less than $78,620. At the high end of the scale, 13 workers, or 1.93%, had LCA reported wages that placed them in the top-tier 90th – 100th percentile rank category.

Figure 16 below graphically demonstrates the number of H-1B workers whose LCA Wages fell into each of the six Standard OES Pecentile Divisions.

RH_H-1B_F16_LCA_Count_by_OES_Standard_Divisions

Figure 16: LCA Count By OES Standard Divisions, All 10 SOC Codes

The largest number of H-1B workers earned LCA wages that fell somewhere between the 25th and 49th percentile ranks, being 41,398 workers. Approximately the same numbers of H-1B workers had earnings that fell into the 10th – 24th and 50th – 74th percentile rank divisions, being 21,806 and 20,512, respectively. 

Summing these results, it is possible to determine how many H-1B workers had LCA Wages BELOW the median point, and how many had LCA Wages ABO VE the median. Summing the numbers 1,629 + 21,806 + 41,398 yields the total of 64,833, representing the number of H-1B workers who earned LCA wages in the three lower percentile divisions. This number represents approximately 68.30% of all H-1B workers earning LCA wages below the median for fiscal year 2009. Likewise, summing 20,512 + 7,640 + 1,945 yields the total of 30,097 H-1B workers (31.70%) earning LCA wages above the median for fiscal year 2009. Figure 17 below demonstrates these percentile rank divisions organized into below-the-median and above-the-median wages across all 10 SOC codes.

RH_H-1B_F17_LCA_Count_Below_vs_Above Median

Figure 17: LCA Count, Below vs. Above Median, All 10 SOC Codes

A final presentation of the results is to re-present the data from Figure 12, the primary data condition, as a simple comparison of LCA Median Wages versus Domestic Median Wages to clarify whether any of the 10 SOC codes revealed LCA Wage Means that were above the Domestic Median Wage Means. Figure 18 below represents LCA vs. Domestic Median Wages by SOC Code.

RH_H-1B_F18_LCA_vs_Domestic_by_SOC

Figure 18: LCA vs. Domestic Median Wages, by SOC Code

For SOC code 15-1011, the median LCA Wage was $95,000 while the median OES Wage was $105,370. Of note, for SOC code 15-1041 the median LCA Wage is actually higher than the median OES Wage, being $51,251 versus $44,300, respectively.

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© 2011, Robert Hill, http://roberthill.org