Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 PERM Statistics

Earlier in February, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification at the Department of Labor released its official FY 2007 data covering cases processed under the Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM). The PERM data provides an insight into the level of demand for U.S. jobs in different industry sectors and geographic areas. This data is equally useful to current and prospective PERM applicants (employees and employers) and to U.S. employers in general. Summary of the PERM Data During FY 2007, there were 98,753 applications processed and 85,112 PERM cases certified (an approval rate of 85%). Out of the 85,112 certified cases, 55,214 were employed on H-1B visa. Similarly, out of the 85,112 certified cases, about 30% had Bachelor’s degree and 48% had Masters or higher degree. The average age at certification was 34 and the average annual wage offer was $64,589. . Economic Sectors It may not come as a surprise that the top economic sector by a large margin was Information Technology, at 21,581 certifications, followed by Advanced Manufacturing with 11,980 certifications and Educational Services with 6,192 certifications. It may be worth noting that while the top economic sectors with PERM certifications had a high percentage of Bachelor or higher degree and a high wage, there were three sectors, Hospitality and Tourism, with 4,769 certifications, and Construction, with 3,902 certifications, and Agrobusiness, with 1,069 certifications, which had fairly low percentage of Bachelor’s degree or higher (under 30%). See the full FY 2007 PERM Economic Sectors Chart. Top Occupations in Demand In line with the economic sector numbers, the top three occupations were Computer Software Engineers with 9,844 PERM certifications, System Software Engineers, with 5,716 certifications, and Computer System Analysts, with 4,012 certifications. Interestingly, the fourth ranked occupation was restaurant cooks, with 2,642 certifications. See the full FY 2007 PERM Occupations Chart. Top Countries of Citizenship The top five countries were India, with 24,573 certifications (29%), China, with 6,846 certifications (8%), Mexico, with 6,442 certifications (8%), South Korea, with 5,159 certifications (6%), and Canada, with 4,837 certifications (6%). See the full FY 2007 PERM Applicant Countries Chart. PERM Certification by State California had the most PERM certifications, 20,222 (or 23%) by a large margin, followed by New York, 8,843 (10%), New Jersey, 6,594 (7%), and Texas, 6,534 (7%). It is interesting to note that the highest paying jobs went to Washington State (average annual wage of $82,698) which most likely can be explained by Microsoft’s heavy reliance on PERM to bring in qualified foreign-born software engineers. See the full FY 2007 PERM States Chart.