For detailed discussion on the impact of H-IB visas see the hot off the press article “H-1B Visa Numbers: No Relationship to Economic Need” http://cis.org/node/222 by Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) Fellow John Miano, an author and expert on the software industry.

Key Findings:
o There is no cause and effect relationship between H-1B visas and job creation. Adding H-1B visas does not create additional jobs for U.S. workers.
o Since 1999, the United States has approved enough H-1B visas for computer workers to fill 87 percent of net computer job growth over that period.
o Since 1999, the United States has had a net loss of 76,000 engineering jobs. Over the same time period, the United States has approved an average of 16,000 new H-1B visas each year for engineers.
o If current employment trends continue and the H-1B quota remains unchanged, the United States will approve enough H-1B visas for computer workers to fill about 79 percent of the computer jobs it creates each year.
o Pending legislation would increase the number of H-1B visas for computer workers to above the number of computer jobs created each year.
o The data suggest that a large percentage of those who legally enter United States on H-1B visas go into the illegal alien pool.

For additional context also read Miano’s Dec. 2005 missive “The Bottom of the Pay Scale Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers” http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/back1305.html

Key Findings:
o In spite of the requirement that H-1B workers be paid the prevailing wage, H-1B workers earn significantly less than their American counterparts. On average, applications for H-1B workers in computer occupations were for wages $13,000 less than Americans in the same occupation and state.
o Wages for H-1B workers in computer programming occupations are overwhelmingly concentrated at the bottom of the U.S. pay scale. Wages on LCAs for 85 percent of H-1B workers were for less than the median U.S. wage in the same occupations and state.
o Applications for 47 percent of H-1B computer programming workers were for wages below even the prevailing wage claimed by their employers.
o Very few H-1B workers earned high wages by U.S. standards. Applications for only 4 percent of H-1B workers were among the top 25 percent of wages for U.S. workers in the same state and occupation.
o Many employers use their own salary surveys and wage surveys for entry-level workers, rather than more relevant and objective data sources, to make prevailing-wage claims when hiring H-1B workers.
o Employers of large numbers of H-1B workers tend to pay those workers less than those who hire a few. Employers making applications for more than 100 H-1B workers had wages averaging $9,000 less than employers of one to 10 H-1B workers.
o The problem of low wages for H-1B workers could be addressed with a few relatively simple changes to the law.

UC Davis Prof. Norman Matloff, a computer scientist has for yeas written extensively about the H-1B FRAUD being perpetrated against U.S. native born workers in computer programming and software engineering. Examples include:
“Should the U.S. increase its H-1B visa program? CON: Wages belie claims of a labor shortage” http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/07/EDGOULJ5BC1.DTL
http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/Archive/HireH1BsOnly.txt

Other reports like “America’s High Tech Bust” discusses employment in IT with implications about why wages might be less than they might otherwise be:
http://www.washtech.org/reports/AmericasHighTechBust/AmericasHighTechBust.pdf
http://www.washtech.org/reports/ITLaborMarketsStudyL.pdf