In a 2020 report, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that 60% of the H-1B positions certified by U.S. Labor Department are assigned wages below the median for the job.
Newsmax
September 23, 2025
However, the H-1B program has not been without criticism. A 2020 study by the Economic Policy Institute found that most H-1B employers pay migrant workers below market wages, and Tesla has been specifically accused of using this practice to underpay workers. This is despite the fact that companies that apply for them must attest to paying the worker the same as they would a US counterpart.
Tech Republic
September 23, 2025
While some businesses and think tanks have advocated an expansion of the H-2B visa program, the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is arguing a much different fix to the U.S. labor squeeze.
“The H-2B visa program has ballooned without being fixed,” EPI stated in a new report. “Expanding it to year-round jobs like meatpacking would lower wages and revenue.”
Current H-2B employment, the EPI reported, is nearly 170,000 workers, approximately 2.5 times the original limit of 66,000. Indeed, to solve a 2022 labor crunch, the Biden administrations DHS approved an additional 20,000 H-2B visas.
Meating Place
September 23, 2025
In a 2020 report, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that 60% of the H-1B positions certified by U.S. Labor Department are assigned wages below the median for the job.
Associated Press
September 23, 2025
The Economic Policy Institute reports about 600,000 H-1B workers are employed by 50,000 U.S. companies. USCIS data shows roughly 70% of H-1B workers first came to America as international students.
WXYZ Detroit
September 23, 2025
Immigration expert Daniel Costa of the Economic Policy Institute explains that this commission is not a good solution to the problems that exist with this visa. “There will be unintended consequences; there are better ways to fix the problems,” he says. Costa criticizes the fact that the current rules do not prevent lower wages in the sector for those who hold this visa, that employment consulting firms benefit, and that there is no real search for native workers to fill the positions. However, the fact that it has these and other flaws cannot be fixed with a price increase, he argues.
El Pais
September 23, 2025
Meanwhile, leaders on the left, like Bernie Sanders, have voiced concerns that the system is exploitative. A 2020 study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that most H-1B employers pay migrant workers less than market rate salaries. And on the right, leaders like Steve Bannon fear that the system takes jobs from Americans.
Time Magazine
September 23, 2025
The Economic Policy Institute noted in its analysis of the rising unemployment rates that federal job cuts have frequently been cited as a contributing factor for the employment losses of Black women due to their relative overrepresentation in that sector.
Black Enterprise
September 22, 2025
The Economic Policy Institute noted earlier this year that “tariffs are most effective when they focus on well-defined and narrowly tailored goals, they work best as part of a larger strategy.”
Public Radio Tulsa
September 22, 2025
The program requires employers to pay H-1B workers, at a minimum, either the average wage for the job and the city where it is based, or the average wage of American-born workers doing the same job. Companies are prohibited from paying H-1B workers less than other workers with similar skills and qualifications. Still, about 60 percent of the positions paid “well below” the local median wage for the occupation in 2019, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which cited the Labor Department’s “broad discretion” to set H-1B wage levels.
New York Times
September 22, 2025