In his commentary "
In My Turn: Immigration reform -- Vermont style," immigration attorney Philip Boyle make the outrageous claim that the H-1b program actually increases the wages of U.S. software professionals, writing:
"H-1B workers must be paid prevailing wage or better. Hence, these workers have a positive impact on wages which a tax would thwart."
If Philip Boyle is sincere - which, as an attorney is highly unlikely - then he should advocate for flooding in foreign immigation attorneys into Vermont. After all, the
Level One DOL prevailing wage (which is applied for most H-1b applications) for LAWYER of $25.65 hour - $53,352 year would certainly put upward pressure on his meager salary.
The reporters at the Burlington Free Press should also rally for more H-1b reporters, as their
DOL prevailing wage of $12.65 hour - $26,312 year would put upward pressure on their salaries.
By far
largest user of H-1b in Vermont in 2006 was
iTech.
iTech LCA wages are here – as low as $36,000 minimum BS degree and specialized knowledge.
iTech made the
Programmers Guild “lowest paid” list. ITech is owned by an immigrant from India and is
engaged in shipping work back to India, the same as the firms that have yet to respond to the
Durbin/Grassley inquiry.
Boyle argues that the H-1b cap should be raised because H-1b is used to hire new grads from Vermont universities. But not one of
iTech’s openings is for new grads –
all require at least 2+ years of experience.
(Boyle ignores an alternate solution of giving H-1b preference to U.S. grads - or to eliminate H-1b entirely and allow supply/demand forces to draw more Americans to pursue advanced degrees – that same force that draws sufficient Americans to pursue law degrees.)
The reason
iTech uses H-1b is not because no Americans are available, but rather because they hire disproportionately Indians from India – not graduates from Vermont colleges, as Boyle alleges. (Of the 80
iTech green card certifications in 2005 and 2006, 77 were for workers from India.)
iTech is second only to
Goldstone Technologies in 2000-2006 LCA filings in Vermont.
Goldstone is an Indian company that uses H-1b because they don’t hire Americans. (On
p.22 of John Miano’s study he found that Goldstone wage are $12,000 below Expected OES wages.)
Here is an
ITECH AD TO HELP PROCESS THEIR EMPLOYEES’ GREEN CARD APPLICATIONS. This person will administrate the PERM job ads that reject qualified American job seekers, as explained by the
immigration lawyers in the Cohen & Grigsby video. PERM ads are described at
www.programmersguild.org/RIR/Philip Boyle does not care about Americans getting American jobs because he only profits when American jobs get filled by foreigners. If he truly belived that flooding in H-1b workers would boost wages rather than displace Americans, he would be calling for more H-1b within his own profession. As it stands, we call him "Liar Liar."
