Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services H-1B Wage Premium
The DOL prevailing wage is the legal minimum an employer must pay for a given role, level, and location — not a target. Employers classified under Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services (NAICS 5413) pay a median of 5.8% above that floor, but 35.3% of filings are at or within 1% of the legal minimum.
What "Wage Premium" Means
Every H-1B Labor Condition Application states a DOL-determined prevailing wage — the minimum legally required for that occupation, experience level, and worksite. Wage premium is how much an employer's actual offered wage exceeds that floor. A 0% premium means the filing states exactly the legal minimum; it is not evidence of a problem, but it means the offered wage carries no information beyond what the law already requires.
Premium varies enormously by employer within the same industry — some pay the floor on every filing, others consistently pay well above it. The table below is not a ranking of employer quality; it measures one thing only: how each employer's offered wage compares to the legal minimum for Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services filings.
Employers Paying Furthest Above the Floor
| Employer | Certified Filings | Avg. Premium |
|---|---|---|
| TORC Robotics, Inc. | 215 | +54.8% |
| CGG Services (U.S.) Inc. | 82 | +43.3% |
| Bechtel Manufacturing & Technology, Inc. | 30 | +39.1% |
| Bechtel Energy Inc. | 183 | +31.9% |
| Populous Group, LLC | 47 | +31.1% |
| Sunwell America, Inc. | 35 | +30.4% |
| KPIT Technologies, Inc. | 91 | +27.5% |
| KBR Technical Services, Inc. | 48 | +27.2% |
Employers with at least 30 certified filings in this industry, ranked by average premium over prevailing wage.
Related H-1B Data
H1B Visa Jobs Research Team
Computed from US Department of Labor LCA disclosure files for employers classified under NAICS 5413 — Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services — comparing each filing's offered annual wage to its own DOL prevailing wage figure (annualized from an hourly rate where filed hourly), filtered to certified petitions with annual wages between $30K and $1M and a positive prevailing wage on file. Per-employer premium is shown only where an employer has at least 30 qualifying filings in this industry, to keep the percentage from being driven by a handful of cases.