Many times, we wonder about how much are some of the biggest names in tech paying their H-1B workers nowadays.
To solve this dilemma, here are the numbers from the H1B Salary Database, which indexes the Labor Condition Application (LCA) disclosure data from the United States Department of Labor (DOL).
It has expanded details about all the H-1B employees at eight tech companies.
What Are The Numbers?
Basically, these firms use the H-1B to bring on analysts, scientists and other tech-centric workers.
Below is the salary numbers break down, which were captured in the first quarter of 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Image Source – H-1B Salary Database
What Does These Nos Show?
The one thing that comes into light that the median H-1B salary at Netflix is twice as high as at other firms.
Wondering why so, a job-by-job breakdown reveals that, in 2020, Netflix has been willing to pay enormous salaries for senior research scientists and software engineers—as much as $600,000 for a computer graphics pipeline lead and a senior software engineer, for example.
So far, Netflix has a longstanding reputation for paying higher-than-average salaries, and it seems like this applies in the context of H-1B.
While a note on the company’s website confirms the same saying “To help us attract and retain stunning colleagues, we pay employees at the top of their personal market,”.
It further said, “We make a good-faith estimate of the highest compensation each employee could make at peer firms, and pay them that maximum.”
For the other firms, the median H-1B salary is well into six figures; compare that to the “average” tech salary of $94,000 (according to Dice’s 2020 Tech Salary Report).
Basically, these salary numbers are in keeping with the H-1B program’s original mission in theory, which is to bring in highly specialized talent from overseas that companies can’t find domestically.
Although, these tech firms also subcontract H-1B workers from business-services and consulting firms.
What About Subcontracting?
Below is a deeper breakdown of how some of tech’s largest companies subcontract:
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
Mostly, there are indications that subcontracted workers are paid lower than the H-1B workers that big tech firms source directly.
For instance consider the case of Accenture, where H-1B workers are paid a median salary of $96,366; at Tata, it’s $68,000; at Capgemini, it’s $89,918; and at IBM, which engages in business consulting in addition to its tech business, it’s $86,653.
According to the subcontractors, the actual median salary at some big tech firms could be quite a bit lower.
Although, COVID-19 could change things radically over the next year or so.
It is already affected since 2020 H-1B visa processing has undergone significant delays.
In the meantime, four U.S. senators recently sent a letter to President Trump that asks for a suspension of all-new guest worker visas, including the H-1B, for at least the next 60 days and possibly the next year.
Also, the H-1B denials were already elevated (historically speaking) before COVID-19.
Although, how all of these factors will impact visa applications, acceptances, and denials into 2021 and beyond is anyone’s guess.
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