Business Economy & You

Economy & You

5 things to know about H-1B hiring

Foreign high-skilled workers aren’t supposed to take jobs from Americans, but they sometimes do. When companies apply to bring in a foreign worker on an H-1B visa, they are required by the U.S. Labor Department to ensure the new arrivals will not hurt similarly employed U.S. workers.





The law doesn’t specifically say H-1B workers can’t replace Americans, but it does include some protections, particularly when it comes to companies deemed “H-1B dependent” — those where 15 percent or more of their U.S. workers are H-1B visa holders. Those companies can’t replace American workers until the H-1B employees have been on the job 90 days.


Firms dependent on H-1B workers also must recruit Americans before bringing in foreign workers. However, these requirements are rarely enforced. And many people never learn why they were passed over for a position, or who got the job they applied for. What’s more, most companies are not categorized as H-1B dependent and therefore do not have to follow the displacement and recruitment guidelines.


The guest workers are supposed to be paid the “prevailing wage” for whatever job they take, in whatever city they work. But the job descriptions listed on the H-1B petitions are vague enough to give employers wiggle room. The government also allows firms leeway in calculating prevailing wages. They can use government data or private industry surveys. U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat who represents Silicon Valley, found in 2011 that computer systems analysts working on H-1B visas in her district could be paid a “prevailing wage” of $52,000 a year — vs. the local average computer analyst wage of $92,000.


Government oversight of the H-1B program is limited and fragmented between half a dozen agencies, making it difficult to enforce legal provisions meant to protect American workers. A Labor Department computer does an initial check as to whether employers have agreed to the commitment to avoid harming American workers and to follow labor laws, but no human looks at that application.



The Associated Press

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