This is dreadfully flawed. Comparing salaries at the top tech firms to a generic employee elsewhere is silly. That would mean that the whole industry is underpaid.
I would not say it is that flawed, since many of not most of these h1b folks work for these big companies. I don't know the exact numbers but around 2017 there were almost as many contractors at Google as FTEs working in the same offices on the same projects, but getting half or third of the FTE salaries.
These large consultancies staff at a lot of places that aren’t big tech. While they certainly have some good talent the overwhelming reputation with body shops is that they place some pretty mediocre talent.
> I don't know the exact numbers but around 2017 there were almost as many contractors at Google as FTEs working in the same offices on the same projects, but getting half or third of the FTE salaries.
Contractors get overtime. That’s why. It’s the same thing at most big companies when you compare contract and FTE for any position - one has higher salary and the other has overtime. It’s common for the contractor to actually have a higher annual (cash) comp.
This reasoning obviously cannot compensate for a difference of more than 10% or so.
And in my experience in most places software contractors are paid more. Contractors are simply the people who are good enough to be technical people who demand higher salaries at non-FANG. They don't get, and don't have a need for, job security and in trade get a lot more dineros. This can be because of specialized knowledge (e.g. knowledge of bank protocols and encryption, including the softer side of it (ie. what particular kinds of encryption actually protect against)). These people are not needed often, and not constantly, but when they're needed they're critical. Hence, lots of pay, switch from bank to bank often. This exists for specialized mechanical engineers in defense too, for example.
The data is more or less correct, however the comparison's are flawed. There are tons of US based companies that pay on the similar scale to all their employees regardless of visa status. Instead of tying the visa with the employer, giving it for a certain duration can go as a long term fix to address both abuse and supply shortage. Its takes preparation, skill and the mindset to make it to companies like google and meta.