Trump's H-1B proposal would push entry-level tech salary floor near $162,000

"Today, the lowest of four wage levels (Level I, the entry tier) is anchored to the seventeenth percentile of Bureau of Labor Statistics earnings for a given occupation in a given metro area. The proposal would lift that anchor to the thirty-fourth percentile. Level IV, the senior tier, would move from the sixty-seventh percentile to the eighty-eighth. The reset cascades through every level in between."

"The headline number across the system is roughly $14,000 per affected role per year, the Department of Labor's own estimate, with senior positions in expensive metros absorbing far more. A Level IV data scientist in Silicon Valley could see the floor rise by more than $45,000. Some legal commentary has projected occupation-by-metro combinations where the new floor would land near or above $208,000."

"The administration's framing is straightforward. The current bands, set in the 1990s, sit well below the market-rate distributions American workers face, particularly for early-career engineers and recent STEM graduates. By moving the bands up the percentile distribution, the proposal aims to remove the cost incentive to fill entry-level technical roles abroad."

"An entry-level software engineer in San Francisco would need to be paid at least $162,000 a year to qualify for an H-1B visa under a Trump-administration proposal published in March. The same role in Dallas would jump to about $113,000; in New York, $132,000. The increases run nearly 30% above the current minimums in each city."

A proposed Department of Labor rule would change how prevailing wages are calculated for H-1B and PERM visa programs. The lowest wage level for entry roles would shift from the seventeenth percentile of Bureau of Labor Statistics earnings to the thirty-fourth percentile. Senior wage levels would rise from the sixty-seventh percentile to the eighty-eighth percentile, with the change cascading through intermediate levels. The Department of Labor estimates an average increase of about $14,000 per affected role per year. In high-cost metros, increases could be much larger, including more than $45,000 for a senior data scientist in Silicon Valley and potential floors near or above $208,000 in some combinations. The proposal aims to align wage bands with market-rate distributions and reduce incentives to hire entry-level technical workers from abroad.

Read at TNW | Government-Policy