Are Google's H1-B hires 20 percent overpaid?
Google salary figures are hard to come by, but the search giant does have to report proposed wages to the government for its H-1B hires — workers granted visa for supposedly special talents — as well as prevailing wages for those positions. A rudimentary analysis of Google's California H-1B data for the last three years suggests that Google may be paying more than a 20 percent premium over what it reports are prevailing wages. According to Labor Condition Application data, the average annual wage proposed by Google for H1-B hires in 2007 was $96,876, compared to an average prevailing wage of $79,777. Which leads to one of those have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife-type-questions: Is Google actually paying H1-B employees 20 percent more than they're worth, or is the company understating prevailing wage rates for the positions it fills with H-1B hires?