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In the national debate over legal immigration, the H-1B visa program has acquired a special significance. Immigration skeptics contend that the program—reserved for high-skilled foreign nationals working in tech and other lucrative industries—might suppress domestic wages and challenge fair labor standards.
However, a recent paper co-authored by Joseph (Han) Stice, an assistant professor of accounting at the Costello College of Business at George Mason University, adds important nuances to the H-1B controversy. The paper finds that H-1B visa holders at Deloitte were paid approximately ten percent less than their American counterparts. Although his study focuses on just one company, the findings invite a broader look at how H-1B visa practices influence compensation strategies—and what this means for foreign and U.S. workers alike.
The paper was published in Journal of Business Ethics. Co-authors were Thomas Bourveau of Columbia University, Derrald Stice of University of Hong Kong and Roger White of Arizona State University.
The researchers used data originating from the 2014 Sony hack, where hackers breached Sony’s servers, leaking sensitive employee data, emails, and salary information. Deloitte’s payroll information had somehow been added to the Sony computer network (perhaps by an unwitting ex-Deloitter who went to work for Sony). This incident not only exposed private data but also ignited ethical debates on privacy and data usage in research. Stice believes that the data provide valuable insights into wage practices that are rarely transparent. “As long as I’m not breaking the law, I don’t see an ethical conflict,” he explains.
Although the Deloitte data dump did not identify which employees were H-1B visa holders, Stice and his co-authors were able to make educated guesses by cross-referencing Department of Labor filings for the Deloitte offices concerned.
The study sheds light on “benchmarking,” where companies set wages based on salaries in less expensive areas, often overseas. “They could use the occupational employment and wage statistics survey, and…a staff accountant for Deloitte in New York City is very different from someone in Des Moines, Iowa,” Stice explains. Though legal, this practice results in foreign workers receiving lower compensation. Another factor complicating wage fairness is visa sponsorship itself, as some employers may rationalize lower wages by considering the sponsorship costs as part of compensation. “Maybe they’re using the visa itself as partial compensation,” Stice suggests, underscoring how companies leverage the relative power imbalance when setting pay.
This power dynamic is crucial to understanding wage practices within the H-1B visa program. Stice notes, “Whenever you have somebody with power and somebody without power, there’s a problem.” H-1B employees depend on their sponsors for residency, limiting their ability to negotiate wages or move between employers freely, whereas U.S. citizens can more easily negotiate pay and seek better offers.
Stice’s research also found an unexpected correlation: as companies hire more H-1B workers, wages for native U.S. employees actually rise slightly, suggesting that H-1B hiring does not always suppress domestic wages, contrary to common concerns. This disparity, Stice argues, underlines a need for policy measures to uphold the H-1B program’s intent, which is, as he put it, “to bring the best and brightest into the United States.'"
To mitigate these imbalances, transparency in salary practices could make a difference. Stice referenced New York’s policy of requiring salary ranges in job listings, which benefits job seekers and fosters fairer negotiations. “Anything to increase transparency, I think benefits the worker more than it benefits the company,” he explains. Policies encouraging such openness could help H-1B workers negotiate more effectively and support equitable compensation.
Stice emphasizes the need for additional research across sectors to identify if these wage practices are systemic. Since his study focused on one accounting firm over a limited period, its generalizability is unclear. “If this is a systematic thing, well, I think that probably needs to be addressed,” he argues. Investigating similar trends in different industries could provide a broader understanding and aid policymakers in crafting fairer regulations for H-1B workers across the board.
Stice hopes his research will contribute to a more nuanced view of immigration and labor practices. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all thing,” he notes, highlighting that while H-1B visas bring skilled talent to the U.S., they also expose workers to wage vulnerabilities. This research suggests that simple narratives around immigration may obscure the complexity of labor dynamics in the U.S. workforce.
As Stice says, "The more information we can get, I think the better."