Indian IT firms create 0.5 million jobs in US

Indian IT companies provide half-a-million high-paying jobs in the US, a new report has said.

In 2018, Indian IT employed nearly 180,000 people in the US and supported an additional 340,000 jobs across the US economy.

These companies are estimated to have paid an average compensation of $96,300 to its US employees in 2018, higher than the average wage of $94,800 that IT professionals get in the US.

These finding are in the recently released data from US research firm IHS Markit Research.

The report added that job creation in the US by Indian IT companies grew at an average annual rate of 3.8% from 2016 to 2018, while the industry average was just 2.6%.

Top seven India-based companies received only 2,200 new H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY2018, less than 2.6% of the 85,000 annual limit for companies.

The US is estimated to have shortage of 7.5 million STEM talent as of April 2019.

The IHS Markit data showed Indian IT companies added $57.2 billion directly to the US GDP in 2017, which is higher than the GDP of six US states. In 2017, they paid $16.3 billion in wages to US employees.

For every $1 million invested by Indian IT companies in the US, for the purchase of equipment, technology and facilities, $1.2 million was added to the US GDP, the report noted.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Mindtree, Hexaware Technologies are Indian IT majors.

This data assumes significance ahead of president Trump's visit to India later this month.