Understanding offered wages in visa filings
Public foreign labor certification records can show an employer, occupation, worksite and a stated wage or range. They offer a view of employer filings. They do not provide a complete payroll history or a verified total-compensation package for every worker. Read the filing’s meaning before using its wage in a comparison.
Treat filing wages as offered-wage evidence with program and period context; keep them separate from realized earnings and total compensation.
Identify the program and the record
The Department of Labor publishes disclosure data drawn from application systems for programs including LCA and PERM, with separate record layouts. Start by identifying which program supplies the record and what each wage field represents. A prevailing wage field and an offered wage field answer different questions. Preserve the filing identifier and original field names when checking a record.
Case status and the number of positions associated with a filing also need context. A filing can concern more than one position, and repeated or amended filings can exist. Counting rows therefore does not establish a count of distinct employees. A determination in an administrative process does not turn the disclosure record into proof of all subsequent payments.
Match the employer, worksite and occupation
Check the legal employer name rather than assuming a familiar brand name identifies the same entity. Match the stated worksite and occupation, then inspect the job title and duties when available. Company-specific job levels may not align with another employer’s labels. A title match alone can conceal meaningful differences in responsibility or location.
Keep the original currency and wage unit. An hourly offer needs a stated schedule assumption before comparison with annual salary. A wage range contains endpoints; its midpoint is a calculated reference, not a worker’s reported salary. If the record leaves a needed field unknown, retain that uncertainty instead of assigning a conventional value without a label.
Keep filing dates separate from earnings dates
Disclosure fiscal year, case determination date and proposed employment dates describe different events. A recent data release can include wage information tied to an earlier application or employment period. Use the actual disclosed dates when available, and label the period that the data supports. A collection date tells you when Wages retrieved data, rather than when compensation was earned.
The H-1B program has wage requirements described by the Department of Labor, including comparison of the applicable prevailing and actual wage. Those rules do not make a displayed filing an individualized legal conclusion about compliance. For a concern about your own pay, consult the official program guidance and the relevant documents rather than relying on an aggregate salary card.
Use the evidence for a focused question
Use filings to ask what wage an employer stated for a particular occupation and worksite during a disclosed period. Compare like programs and pay units, and read sample coverage before drawing conclusions from a few records. Do not combine filing wages with reported bonus and equity into an invented package, or blend filing rows and employee reports into one undifferentiated median.
For negotiations, pair this evidence with a written offer and appropriately matched benchmarks. For research, keep the source and measurement type attached through exports and summaries. Wages’ methodology explains these distinctions; its salary pages describe the supported cohort rather than claiming to measure every employee at an employer.
Reading a range without inventing an employee salary
Illustrative filing states an offered wage range of $45–$55 per hour; a comparison uses the explicitly assumed 2,080-hour year.
| Reference | Hourly amount | Annual equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Lower offered endpoint | $45 | $93,600 |
| Calculated midpoint | $50 | $104,000 |
| Upper offered endpoint | $55 | $114,400 |
($45 + $55) ÷ 2 = $50 per hour. $50 × 2,080 = $104,000 as an assumed annual midpoint.
The midpoint is not observed earnings, a median, a guaranteed schedule or total compensation. Filing rows are not distinct-worker counts.
Common questions
Is an LCA wage actual employee total pay?
It is wage information from an employer filing. It does not verify realized pay, bonus, equity or a complete compensation package.
Does a filing count equal an employee count?
No. Records can cover multiple positions, repeat or relate to amendments. The count should retain its administrative-record meaning.
Is the disclosure year the year the wage was earned?
Not necessarily. Read the record’s dates and the disclosure period separately; neither alone establishes an employee’s earnings year.
Further reading
These official sources explain the definitions and requirements discussed above. The guide’s calculations are original illustrative examples from Wages.fyi.
- U.S. Department of Labor: foreign labor certification disclosure data and record layouts
- U.S. Department of Labor: H-1B wage and benefit requirements
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: annual wage calculations and the 2,080-hour assumption
Citation: Wages.fyi, “Understanding offered wages in visa filings,” published October 13, 2026.
Keep the measurement attached to the number
Explore pay coverage and check whether each benchmark describes offered wages, reported compensation or another measure.