A proposal to change foreign workers’ wages could threaten American jobs

The U.S. labor market is slowing. April nonfarm payrolls grew by 115,000, and 2025 added just 181,000 jobs in total, down from 1.46 million the year before. Tech is weakening even faster. Indeed’s Hiring Lab reports that job postings remain roughly one-third below their pre-pandemic baseline, with software‑development roles down about 30 percent and other information sector categories falling 30 to 40 percent below 2020 levels.

Software developers are also the top occupation for H‑1B temporary foreign workers, according to the Department of Labor. Yet this is precisely when the department has chosen to propose a rule that would sharply raise wage floors for these jobs.

The proposal would increase the “prevailing wages” employers must pay sponsored workers under the H‑1B and employment‑based green card programs. Today, those wages are set using four tiers tied to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, corresponding roughly to the 17th, 34th, 50th and 67th percentiles.

The rule would upend that structure. Entry‑level positions eligible for the H-1B program would jump from the 17th percentile to the 34th — doubling the percentile floor and producing roughly a 33 percent increase in Level I wages. Level II wages would rise by about 25 percent, Level III by roughly 20 percent, and Level IV to the 88th percentile. In practice, what is now a mid‑level salary would become the minimum for entry‑level sponsored visa workers.

These effects will not be confined to visa holders, because employers do not operate in wage silos. When government mandates require higher pay for one category of workers, employers face pressure to raise wages for........

© The Hill