4 ms·

I think that's a start but specifically because $110K is nearly entry level in silicon valley it ought to be significantly higher. $150K would probably be enoug

by jrs95 9y ago

I think that's a start but specifically because $110K is nearly entry level in silicon valley it ought to be significantly higher. $150K would probably be enough to stop it from holding wages down. A great side effect of this is that it pretty much makes H1B not viable in the Midwest or other areas where we probably ought to be trying to develop more talent

quicknir 9y ago
Getting an H1B worker is significantly more expensive than someone domestic at the same salary. You have to pay lawyers a bunch of money, the employee can't always start when you/they want, and worse, right now the chance of actually getting an H1B is only something like 1/3. So there's a 2/3 chance that after all of the work of interviewing for this person, paying lawyers, holding a spot for them, they will never actually be able to work for you. At any rate, I would like to see some empirical backing for those who want to raise H1B salaries higher than inflation adjustment. The side effect you think is great, is actually really bad. It's not a question of developing more talent, it's the fact that people move to the coasts for jobs. All this really does is disadvantage companies not in NYC and SF, and make it more likely that they will have a labor shortage they can't make up, and pack up. This isn't reflective of anything though, except basically regional inflation (it's not simply that salaries in NYC and SF are so much higher because the companies there are the most productive and therefore deserve the H1B slots more, the salaries are partly inflated because cost of living is also super high, i.e. a dollar is worth less).
seanp2k2 9y ago
Yep re: rust belt. Fix cost of living or find a way for all the other markets in the US to come up to where CA is (don't do that).
- jrs95 9y ago
  I'm sure a $15 an hour national minimum wage would do a pretty good job of that. Especially since that's nearly the median income in the poorer parts of the country.
ajju 9y ago
$60K is the minimum salary for a H1B visa, it is not the minimum salary for a H1B visa in a technical position. I would be very surprised if the "H1B prevailing wage" for any meaningful technical role in the SF bay area is less than $100k.
- TheCoelacanth 9y ago
  Prevailing wage for an entry-level "Computer Programmer" in SF is $73k [1]. [1] http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?code=15-1131&area=41884&year=18&source=1 http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?code=15-11...

by jrs95 9y ago

quicknir 9y ago

Getting an H1B worker is significantly more expensive than someone domestic at the same salary. You have to pay lawyers a bunch of money, the employee can't always start when you/they want, and worse, right now the chance of actually getting an H1B is only something like 1/3. So there's a 2/3 chance that after all of the work of interviewing for this person, paying lawyers, holding a spot for them, they will never actually be able to work for you. At any rate, I would like to see some empirical backing for those who want to raise H1B salaries higher than inflation adjustment. The side effect you think is great, is actually really bad. It's not a question of developing more talent, it's the fact that people move to the coasts for jobs. All this really does is disadvantage companies not in NYC and SF, and make it more likely that they will have a labor shortage they can't make up, and pack up. This isn't reflective of anything though, except basically regional inflation (it's not simply that salaries in NYC and SF are so much higher because the companies there are the most productive and therefore deserve the H1B slots more, the salaries are partly inflated because cost of living is also super high, i.e. a dollar is worth less).

seanp2k2 9y ago

Yep re: rust belt. Fix cost of living or find a way for all the other markets in the US to come up to where CA is (don't do that).

jrs95 9y ago
I'm sure a $15 an hour national minimum wage would do a pretty good job of that. Especially since that's nearly the median income in the poorer parts of the country.

ajju 9y ago

$60K is the minimum salary for a H1B visa, it is not the minimum salary for a H1B visa in a technical position. I would be very surprised if the "H1B prevailing wage" for any meaningful technical role in the SF bay area is less than $100k.

TheCoelacanth 9y ago
Prevailing wage for an entry-level "Computer Programmer" in SF is $73k [1]. [1] http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?code=15-1131&area=41884&year=18&source=1 http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?code=15-11...