H1-B Rate Hike Coming?

The DOL is reviving a move started in the first Trump administration but discontinued under Biden, that of increasing the prevailing wage rates for holders of H1-B visas and similar foreign workers. The wage structure for those workers has four tiers, and the proposal would raise the rate for each of the four tiers. The target would be either the same as pay for citizens with comparable qualifications and experience or the prevailing wage rate, whichever is greater. One significant objective is to prevent job losses for American workers in favor of lower-paid visa holders, an issue that has been in the news recently. The reference source would be the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (OEWS), but employers would be permitted to use private surveys in lieu of the OEWS. The former tend to be more precise than the OEWS, with more than the four levels in the OEWS.