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Show HN: US H1B Worker Salaries Visualized for Easy Exploration

36 points by c2latt 10y ago

untog 10y ago
These are not salaries, they are "Labor Condition Applications", which companies have to submit before they can submit any H1B application. The LCA actually has a range of pay (WAGE_RATE_OF_PAY_FROM and WAGE_RATE_OF_PAY_TO), so the way it is displayed here is pretty misleading. And even then, they reflect the lowest possible salary the company might pay an H1B worker. As someone who went through the process, I can say the salary attached to my LCA was lower than the salary I received, though I don't know why. Perhaps since LCAs can apply to more than one employee it's standard practise to set the bar low, allowing you to use the same LCA with a less qualified worker. Either way, this is not a conclusive, reliable data set.
- sumitgt 10y ago
  Thanks for clarifying. Do you have some more info about this. Some page where these ranges are listed? I'm curious to understand how these numbers are derived as they seem slightly off to me.
  - untog 10y ago
    The site links to the original data source, which has the raw data available as XSLS files: https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm#dis https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm#...
- cardine 10y ago
  As an employer I can confirm this is correct. The salaries it reports for the people we have sponsored are far lower than what those people actually made at the time of the application.
- c2latt 10y ago
  I've updated the data so it should be closer to reality now.
zerr 10y ago
I want to sort by salary so I can see who pays best/worst.
- c2latt 10y ago
  U mean to see which company pays the most? It's a little tricky since u prob want to based on average or median salary in tat case but then that will hide a lot of details without also separating by job/city/level etc.
40acres 10y ago
There's an H1B at Google who makes $54k. Hard to believe Google's salaries even drop that low, contractor?
- sumitgt 10y ago
  Same here. There are some stats there that don't seem right based on how much I make. Also, this doesn't include bonuses, etc. I think.
- wavefunction 10y ago
  Tata Developer @ $15,222[0] [0]http://www.h1bsalary.info/index.html?employerName=TATA%20CONSULTANCY%20SERVICES%20LIMITED&year=2016 http://www.h1bsalary.info/index.html?employerName=TATA%20CON...
  - thinkmassive 10y ago
    Yeah, these types of organizations are the ones abusing the visa system. Look at this salary distribution, and realize that many (most?) of these workers are staffed at tech giants like Apple, but employed by TCS: http://www.h1bsalary.info/index.html?employerName=TATA%20CONSULTANCY%20SERVICES%20LIMITED&year=2016 http://www.h1bsalary.info/index.html?employerName=TATA%20CON...
sssilver 10y ago
This is rubbish, at least for my company, where we hire 2 Software Engineer IIs with H1B, so it's easy to reason about the numbers. I was one of those 2 engineers until got promoted to a Senior a few months ago, and the number it reports for min and max are grossly inaccurate. My salary hasn't ever been nearly that low, I don't think any engineer of any rank in our company makes that little.
- c2latt 10y ago
  data comes from department of labor based on company filings. May b I m not extracting from the correct field so I will check again.
bicknergseng 10y ago
Does anyone know if H1B's are exempt from California's Labor Codes? Looks like there's quite a few that fall short of 2017's required $88k[1]. 1 https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/california-minsalarycomputerexemption.aspx https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-...
politician 10y ago
Why is Amazon hiring H1-B workers for Technical Program Management roles? :mindblown:
xpan 10y ago
I tried a few examples I know, the data is not accurate.
design 10y ago
Also: http://h1bdata.info/ http://h1bdata.info/ Seems to have more data.
clueless123 10y ago
The bottom salaries might sound low in this forum, maybe because no one who is getting paid this kinds of salaries hangs around Hacker news.. ;) (I've known plenty of warm bodies dev's that make that kind of money)
chickenking 10y ago
I am an H1B from India. I want to add one point. My LCA says x salary. I get 3k more than that. Considering all yhe benefits, it comes to around y per hour. My employer charges the customer '1.76y' to '2.14y' depending on the project. So the customer is actually paying nearly twice of what I get paid.
c2latt 10y ago
Data has been updated. It should be closer to actual wage now.

36 points by c2latt 10y ago

untog 10y ago

These are not salaries, they are "Labor Condition Applications", which companies have to submit before they can submit any H1B application. The LCA actually has a range of pay (WAGE_RATE_OF_PAY_FROM and WAGE_RATE_OF_PAY_TO), so the way it is displayed here is pretty misleading. And even then, they reflect the lowest possible salary the company might pay an H1B worker. As someone who went through the process, I can say the salary attached to my LCA was lower than the salary I received, though I don't know why. Perhaps since LCAs can apply to more than one employee it's standard practise to set the bar low, allowing you to use the same LCA with a less qualified worker. Either way, this is not a conclusive, reliable data set.

sumitgt 10y ago
Thanks for clarifying. Do you have some more info about this. Some page where these ranges are listed? I'm curious to understand how these numbers are derived as they seem slightly off to me.
- untog 10y ago
  The site links to the original data source, which has the raw data available as XSLS files: https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm#dis https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm#...
cardine 10y ago
As an employer I can confirm this is correct. The salaries it reports for the people we have sponsored are far lower than what those people actually made at the time of the application.
c2latt 10y ago
I've updated the data so it should be closer to reality now.

zerr 10y ago

I want to sort by salary so I can see who pays best/worst.

c2latt 10y ago
U mean to see which company pays the most? It's a little tricky since u prob want to based on average or median salary in tat case but then that will hide a lot of details without also separating by job/city/level etc.

40acres 10y ago

There's an H1B at Google who makes $54k. Hard to believe Google's salaries even drop that low, contractor?

sumitgt 10y ago
Same here. There are some stats there that don't seem right based on how much I make. Also, this doesn't include bonuses, etc. I think.
wavefunction 10y ago
Tata Developer @ $15,222[0] [0]http://www.h1bsalary.info/index.html?employerName=TATA%20CONSULTANCY%20SERVICES%20LIMITED&year=2016 http://www.h1bsalary.info/index.html?employerName=TATA%20CON...
- thinkmassive 10y ago
  Yeah, these types of organizations are the ones abusing the visa system. Look at this salary distribution, and realize that many (most?) of these workers are staffed at tech giants like Apple, but employed by TCS: http://www.h1bsalary.info/index.html?employerName=TATA%20CONSULTANCY%20SERVICES%20LIMITED&year=2016 http://www.h1bsalary.info/index.html?employerName=TATA%20CON...

sssilver 10y ago

This is rubbish, at least for my company, where we hire 2 Software Engineer IIs with H1B, so it's easy to reason about the numbers. I was one of those 2 engineers until got promoted to a Senior a few months ago, and the number it reports for min and max are grossly inaccurate. My salary hasn't ever been nearly that low, I don't think any engineer of any rank in our company makes that little.

c2latt 10y ago
data comes from department of labor based on company filings. May b I m not extracting from the correct field so I will check again.

bicknergseng 10y ago

Does anyone know if H1B's are exempt from California's Labor Codes? Looks like there's quite a few that fall short of 2017's required $88k[1]. 1 https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/california-minsalarycomputerexemption.aspx https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-...

politician 10y ago

Why is Amazon hiring H1-B workers for Technical Program Management roles? :mindblown:

xpan 10y ago

I tried a few examples I know, the data is not accurate.

design 10y ago

Also: http://h1bdata.info/ http://h1bdata.info/ Seems to have more data.

clueless123 10y ago

The bottom salaries might sound low in this forum, maybe because no one who is getting paid this kinds of salaries hangs around Hacker news.. ;) (I've known plenty of warm bodies dev's that make that kind of money)

chickenking 10y ago

I am an H1B from India. I want to add one point. My LCA says x salary. I get 3k more than that. Considering all yhe benefits, it comes to around y per hour. My employer charges the customer '1.76y' to '2.14y' depending on the project. So the customer is actually paying nearly twice of what I get paid.

c2latt 10y ago

Data has been updated. It should be closer to actual wage now.