Some of these positions can be personally identified. I just picked Physic Ventures to start and with some not too hard logic was able to figure who's salary was listed on the site.
That's true for almost all of the startups (and in one case, a company that just filed for IPO). It wasn't too hard to match this data to LinkedIn for quite a few people I know :)
Doesn't this violate some kind of privacy laws, anyway? (Edit: I mean the fact that the US Government is releasing data, not the fact that it can be mined)
The legislative purpose of H1B is to preserve the ability of companies to hire professionals who cannot be found at any price in America. There are a few safeguards designed to promote this: a requirement to advertise for the position in the US, for example, and the publication process.
A frequent criticism made of H1B is that it is used as an end-run around our (typically fairly strict) immigration procedures to bring in modern-day indentured servants who do jobs many Americans can do at wages which are markedly lower than the prevailing US wages. You'll frequently see this in e.g. Slashdot criticism, with tales of H1Bs hired by Infosys or whomever paid to do systems engineering for $20k ~ $30k, which (if substantially accurate) is an abuse of the program.
FWIW, I am in Japan by the grace of a status of residence very similar to the H1B, and that would be yanked instantly if I was not earning more than the prevailing wage for similarly situated Japanese engineers. (Though there is another status here -- trainee -- which is widely abused to that purpose.)
For all intents and purposes, the "trainee" visa in Japan is borderline slavery and is used to bring in extremely cheap labor from China and SE Asia.
Japan is actually pretty relaxed about immigration considering the xenophobic image. All you need is a job offer from a company willing to do the paperwork, (normally) a Bachelors degree in the field you will work in and a salary offer that is at least what a Japanese hire would get. No quotas or H1B hire-in-Japan-first requirements. You aren't trapped in your job - once you get a work visa, you can change to another company in the same field with no repercussions. Get married and you have full rights to work, not work or start a business as you please with a spousal visa.
Don't want to work for someone else or get married? 5 million yen in the bank (about $60k) and a business plan gets you an "Investors" visa.
Not completely true. Sure you can vote and do a few other things but other than that, under the law citizen's and people on US soil are the same. The constitution makes it clear. Basically if a non citizen gets arrested, he has the same right to representation and all as an American citizen does. (As a permanent resident I find that important.)
And as far as salaries being published. State and Federal employees salaries are public. You can make a FOIA request for them if you want. So here's an example of Citizens who have their salaries made public.
Not completely true. Permanent residents can, for example, be stripped of their PR status for committing crimes and are required to carry evidence of their PR status at all times.
But in any case, wrt anything that concerns immigration matters (which visas fall under), there is most definitely not equal treatment.
Yeah that's true but you have to be found guilty first, they can't just (I hope) pick you up and put you on a plane without a trial of some sort or a valid reason that can be challenged in court (If you are a PR, that is or a visa holder).
I worked for the state of Florida and salaries were public. Did not really have an issue with that. Your salary falls within a bracket anyway so you won't be making more than another with similar experience and position.
