OFLC publishes New Prevailing Wage Data: Required Wages for Senior Software Developers and Data Scientists Jump by as high as 38% in Silicon Valley Area
On July 1, 2023, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) published the new prevailing wage data from the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. All prevailing wage determinations issued between July 2023 and June 2024 will reflect the new prevailing data.
Each year, the BLS conducts the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey to determine the new prevailing wage rate for specific occupations in various metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas within the U.S. The BLS survey is comprised of four levels, with Level I applicable to entry level positions, and Level IV for the senior most positions.
As required by Department of Labor regulations, U.S. employers are required to pay H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 foreign workers at least the prevailing wage for specific occupation, and wage level within the geographical area of intended of employment. The BLS data is also used by the Department of Labor to determine the minimum salary that employers are required to pay employees who are being sponsored for permanent residency through the PERM labor certification process. In some cases, employers may use data from published salary surveys, or by conducting their own private survey (i.e. Radford, Wyatt Watson, etc.), in lieu of the BLS data.
As expected, the new prevailing wages for most occupations in most geographical areas have increased for the July 2023 – June 2024 year. Most notably, prevailing wages for Software Developers and Data Scientists for the counties comprising most of California’s Silicon Valley have increased dramatically compared to last year, particularly for Senior level positions. As indicated in the chart below, the level IV Software Developer salary has increased by 32% to $283,442, and by 38% for Data Scientists to $295,194 for these counties. By contrast, prevailing wages for the same positions have increased only moderately in many other areas, and actually decreased significantly in some areas. Data Scientists prevailing wages for San Francisco, for example, which is only a short drive from the heart of the Silicon Valley, went down 22% for entry level positions. For Austin, Texas, entry-level Data Scientists prevailing wages decreased by 28%. Similarly, for Seattle, Washington, entry-level Data Scientists prevailing wages decreased by 12%. The Department of Labor’s new prevailing wage rates will remain in effect until June 30, 2024 and will be used by the National Prevailing Wage Center for all prevailing wage determinations issued for H-1Bs, H-1B1s, E-3s, and PERMs.
Below we highlight the new prevailing wage rates, with percentage change compared to last year, for many common occupations and geographical areas:
What this means for our clients
The dramatic increases in prevailing wage figures for certain occupations published by the Department of labor last week will present challenges to many of our clients seeking to hire foreign workers, particularly clients with worksites in the San Jose/Silicon Valley area. Commercially available published surveys may offer an alternative to relying on the Department of Labor’s data in some cases. Please contact our attorneys if you have questions about this information or need further assistance working through a specific prevailing wage issue.
