Communications of the ACM
H-1b Visa Holders Earn More Than .s.-Born It Professionals, Study Claims
Credit: www.weblo.com
A new University of Maryland study found that foreign-born information technology (IT) professionals with temporary skilled worker visas earn more than their U.S. equivalents.
Professors Hank Lucas and Sunil Mithas used data from online salary polls performed from 2000 to 2005 by Information Week and Hewitt Associates, and found that IT professionals without U.S. citizenship earned nearly 9 percent more than their U.S. counterparts. IT workers on temporary visas such as the L-1 and H-1B received 6.8 percent higher earnings than their U.S.-born counterparts, while green card holders earned almost 13 percent more than U.S. IT professionals. Lucas and Mithas credit restrictive visa policies with driving up salary premiums.
The research contradicts the conclusions of other studies that temporary visa programs are depressing U.S. IT workers' salaries, but Lucas and Mithas counter that those studies do not collate data at an individual level. The professors say their research indicates that corporations use foreign-born IT professionals as a complement to the U.S. workforce rather than as a less expensive substitute.
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