H-IB visa holders work on low salaries. H-1B-visa holders are not properly qualified. These are some of the common perceptions regarding these visa holders in the US.
However, how many of these perceptions hold ground in the real world. A recent report by economists Magnus Lofstrom and Joseph Hayes at the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California, US, has tried to look into this and more.
The study titled 'H-1Bs: How do they stack up to US born workers?' combines the unique individual level H-1B data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and data from 2009 American Community Survey to analyse earnings differences between H-1B visa holders and US born workers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) occupations.
Here are top five findings of the report.
Are younger
According to the report H-1B workers on average are younger and more highly educated than both naturalized immigrant and US born workers. The average age of H-1Bs is about 32 years while it is 43.6 and 41.4 years respectively for immigrants with US citizenship and for natives.
Over 50% hold advanced degree
The survey found that close to 60 per cent of US born workers in its high-skilled sample had no formal education beyond a Bachelor's degree (the lowest schooling level in the survey's sample), while only about 41 per cent among H-1Bs have no advanced degree.
The survey also found out that H-1Bs are more than twice as likely to possess a non-professional doctoral degree than are US born workers (12.7 per cent vs. 4.6 per cent). More than 1/3 of H-1Bs obtained an advanced degree (Master's or higher) in the US.
Dominate IT sector
As per the survey, high-skilled temporary workers are concentrated in a handful of industries. Roughly 42 per cent of H-1Bs are in information technology (IT) occupations, whereas slightly less than 10 percent of US born workers with at least a Bachelor's degree are in IT.
Lead engineering vertical
H-1Bs are also disproportionately concentrated in engineering (9.2 per cent versus 4.7 per cent among natives), mathematics and sciences (5.0 and 3.1 per cent respectively) and college and university teaching (8.2 and 4.8 per cent respectively).
Of our defined occupation groups, native workers are more concentrated only in health occupations (15.6 per cent among natives and 8.3 per cent among H-1Bs).
Salaries match
Mean and median annual earnings are higher among H-1Bs than among US born workers with at least a Bachelor's degree but lower than they are among naturalized immigrants. The average annual earnings of about $78,200 of H-1Bs is about 10 per cent higher than the average annual earnings of the sample of US born workers ($71,200) taken in the survey.
Although median annual earnings are lower for both groups, the H-1B earnings advantage is roughly the same. Relative to native workers, the data also suggest higher mean annual earnings of about 20 per cent among naturalized immigrants with at least a Bachelor's degree. The occupation-specific analysis finds that H-1B workers in two of the five occupation groups analyzed (the largest occupation group, IT, and post-secondary education) have higher earnings than their otherwise observationally similar US born counterparts.
The research adds that in the other three occupation groups (health, engineering and math and sciences) it fails to find convincing evidence of lower earnings among H-1B workers.
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