美国软件工程师神秘消失之谜

    Bright公司的报告还有一个让数据分析师们感到惊讶的地方，那就是不管在哪个领域，持H-1B签证的外国技术人员的平均工资都要高于该领域的中值。如果说科技企业给H-1B签证持有者的工资比较低的话，那还比较好理解，毕竟企业还为这些外籍员工提供了额外担保。但是这份分析显示，外籍员工的工资只高不低。

    大家可能认为，这恰恰证明这些外籍员工对于企业的价值有多么高。正因为各个公司抢着要他们，所以他们提出的工资水平也比美国同行高一些。

    但我们也可以从另一个角度看这个问题。美国政府要求，企业付给H-1B签证持有者的工资水平应该是其所在领域的中等水平。如果对H-1B签证需求量最大的是低薪的系统分析师岗位，那么企业有可能是故意公布这些低薪工作，吸引那些技术极为熟练、但又极为向往在美国工作的编程人员。

    显然企业在通过选择性公布工作岗位来滥用H-1B签证政策。他们为什么不在这个过程中省些钱呢？

    H-1B签证的最大用户并不是那些呼吁增加此类签证的科技公司，而是那些雇佣了外籍员工，然后把他们“借”给其他企业的外包公司。

    那么，为什么有那么多的科技企业CEO跟在游说组织fud.us后头，试图说服政府增加H-1B签证数量呢？通过对大量数据的无偏分析，Bright公司排除了毫不利己、专门利人的原因——Bright公司自己就有两名H-1B员工。

    政策制定者们应该认真调查企业对于外籍科技员工的实际需求量，以及企业试图雇佣外籍员工的动机。作为一个好的开始，政府不妨首先严格检查这些企业提供的工作岗位、实际角色，以及H-1B员工的真实工资水平，看看这项计划是否真的变成了一个变相降低工资的工具。

    此外，不妨对雇佣本国员工和外籍员工的成本做一个分析比较。雇佣一个H-1B外籍员工的成本大概是5000美元，而雇佣美国员工的成本则是它的四倍之多。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎 

    Another aspect of Bright's report that surprised the data scientists was that the average salary for H-1B workers was higher than the median in each field. It would make sense that an employer would try to offer a lower salary to an employee it helped move to the United States since that employee also gains the benefit of getting sponsored, but the analysis found the opposite.

    You could argue that this is evidence that these foreign workers are particularly valuable to their employers. The competition to recruit them is so fierce that they are actually commanding higher wages than their American counterparts.

    But you can also look at the results another way. The government requires companies to pay H-1B workers the median wage for the positions they fill. If the top position filled by H-1Bs is the lower-paid systems analyst position, it's possible that companies might be publicly posting openings for lower-wage jobs and filling them with extremely skilled programmers who are eager to work in the U.S.

    It's clear that employers are misusing the H-1B program based on the types of jobs they are looking to fill. Why wouldn't they try to save some cash in the process?

    The biggest users of these visas are not the tech companies that are calling for an increase in the quotas. They are outsourcing firms that hire foreign workers and loan them to other companies.

    So why are so many tech CEOs getting behind fwd.us, the organization lobbying to increase the number of H-1B visas? Through largely unbiased analysis of a huge quantity of data, Bright -- which employs two H-1B workers -- seems to have ruled out the more altruistic reasons.

    Policymakers ought to probe the need for foreign technology workers and the intentions of those looking to hire them. A good start would be a close examination of the job titles, the actual roles, and the actual salaries of H-1B workers to see if this program has actually become a tool to drive down wages.

    It's also a good to idea to do a cost analysis of hiring domestically vs. internationally. The cost of hiring an H-1B worker is about $5,000. Using a recruiter for a domestic hire costs four times as much.