Trump’s New Wage Rule Could Make H-1B Hiring Costlier

In a bid to avoid undercutting of salaries for Americans by companies, the Trump administration is trying to introduce new rules to mandate higher wages for foreign workers in the US.

On Thursday, the Labour Department made a proposal seeking adjustment of prevailing wages for white-collar workers on H-1B and certain green card categories, based on specific occupation and geographic market.

In the wake of the criticism against companies over exploitation of the H-1B program, which allows hiring foreigners for professional jobs, the new rule is aimed at ensuring that the companies pay more to the foreign workforce, that could possibly deter them from opting for employees from other countries. Thus, it would make the employers pay high for Americans too, if they matched with the required skillset of the foreign workforce.

However, businesses say H-1B workers are necessary to meet specialized hiring needs but the program attracted criticism that it is allowing IT giants and staffing firms to recruit inexpensive workers lower-level tech jobs.

According to the new proposal by the Labour Department, the wage levels have been classified into four categories, that are related to job duties and experience levels.

The hike in wage levels is in addition to the White House’s imposition of $100,000 fee on H-1B visas, last year.

The proposal to be published in the Federal Register on March 27 has been kept open for public opinion for a period of 60 days.

It has to be seen if Trump administration’s proposal to change the wage policy for foreigners would benefit them or Americans.