Doesn't that mean nurses, doctors etc. should be paid more, rather than the reverse?
But tying it to only salary doesn't create a balanced system.
There are occupations that are understaffed and have a need for foreign skilled workers that simply can not practically match what a FAANG engineer gets paid.
Therefore their wages should probably be lower.
Yes, they do, but that does not mean they will beat out what FAANG is able to pay an engineer if H1-Bs are granted based solely on salary.
> At any rate, different job categories can have different requirements.
I'm not sure what you mean by this, but if you mean different salary requirements, then that effectively goes away if you start granting H1-Bs based solely on salary.
> Musicians, theatre all works the same way.
This is... kind of my point? I seriously doubt that these musicians and artists are being paid comparably to a SF-based FAANG engineer. If they are, they are more-likely-than-not qualified for an O-1 anyways, so the point is kind of moot.
OP at the top of this thread suggested that it effectively should, by just giving H1-Bs to the 80k jobs per year that would pay the most.
I am disagreeing with that statement.
You have to remember that H1-Bs are used for many occupations and industries outside of tech. Prioritizing by salary only effectively means that 99% of all H1-Bs would go to 3-4 large companies.
Yes, nurses, doctors, etc may not get paid as much as a FAANG engineer a couple of years out of college, but they are still often needed.
I think that if you want to prioritize by salary within industries that could potentially work, but then you're bordering on a "new immigration framework".