Updated October 16, 2026

PERM occupation, SOC 19-1042, #443 of 1,410 by filings

SOC 19-1042

28,760 H-1B LCAs

Biggest sponsor: AMGEN INC. · 7% of its filings
Busiest state: CA · 33% of its filings
Major group: Life, physical and social science · SOC 19

Weighing an offer for this job?

Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.

Compare my offer DOL's wage levels for this job

DOL's job-title cell is unusable on these rows, so the code is the only name they have.

This rate is level with the field

Over 55 decided filings, this rate can't be told apart from the field in either direction.

Why

The 95% interval runs up to a 6.5% denial rate, which still covers the 3.20% the field as a whole records.

Median wage

$116,000

all PERM $103,272

Filings

#443 of 1,410

Approval

100.0%

field 96.8%

Median days

389

88 faster than the field

What it pays

Where its median offer sits among every occupation, then the whole ladder of certified offers by year and by state.

Position in the field 535 occupations with 30+ decided

Median offered wage

$116,000above 78%

$18k $500k

Approval rate

100.0%ahead of 91%, level with 49 more

49% 100%

Median days to decision

389 daysahead of 82%

323d 536d

Each bar counts occupations at that value. More

Each bar counts occupations at that value. PERM runs two labour markets through one process, which is why the wage axis is two humps rather than a bell. The line marks this one.

DOL PERM disclosure files

Who files it

The sponsors and firms with the most PERM filings under this code, the places the work sits, and who the workers were.

Sponsors filing it

AMGEN INC. 4 filings
BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB COMPANY 3 filings
GENENTECH INC. 3 filings
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH 3 filings
BARNESJEWISH HOSPITAL 2 filings
UCB, INC 2 filings

How this is counted

The employers with the most applications under this code. 17 of 55 filings, 31% of the total.

Firms filing it

Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen Loewy, LLP 5 filings
Gibney, Anthony Flaherty LLP 5 filings
Berry Appleman Leiden LLP 4 filings
Morgan, Lewis Bockius LLP 4 filings
POLSINELLI, PC 2 filings
The Law Firm of Sim, Parvathaneni and Brown PLLC 2 filings

How this is counted

The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 22 of 55 filings, 40% of the total.

Where the jobs are

California 18
Massachusetts 8
New Jersey 7
Utah 3
Georgia 2
Michigan 2

How this is counted

The worksite state on the application, which is where the job is and not where the company is headquartered. Volume by state across everyone is on the state map. These 6 states cover 40 of 55 filings.

Where the work is

South San Francisco, CA 5
Cambridge, MA 4
Salt Lake City, UT 3
Princeton, NJ 2
Smyrna, GA 2
St. Louis, MO 2

How this is counted

The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 18 of 55 filings.

Newspapers it advertised in

Los Angeles Times

1 cases

How this is counted

The newspaper or professional journal named for each case's two print ads, one count per paper per case, however the filer spelled it.

Additional steps it used

Job search websites

1 cases
Local or ethnic newspapers

1 cases
Radio or TV ads

1 cases

How this is counted

The steps a professional job needs beyond the job order and the ads, by the number of cases that name each.

How long before filing it began

Under 30 days

0.0%
30 to 59 days

0.0%
60 to 89 days

0.0%
90 to 119 days

0.0%
120 to 149 days

0.0%
150 to 180 days

100%
Over 180 days

0.0%

How this is counted

Days from the first recruitment step to the filing. 20 C.F.R. § 656.17(e) puts the job order and ads 30 to 180 days before filing.

Where every PERM employer recruits

Who filled these jobs, FY2016 to FY2023

From DOL's old form; the form in use since mid-2023 doesn't carry them. Top six of each.

Country of citizenship

India 276
Canada 71
China 56
Brazil 33
Iran 32
Pakistan 30

Worker's education

Doctorate 276
Master's 246
Other 200
Bachelor's 69
None 7
Associate's 2

Visa held when filed

H-1B 541
L-1 50
F-1 48
TN 40
J-1 25
O-1 15

Schools

LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY 20
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY 12
NTR UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES 8
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO 8
FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY 7
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 6

Fields of study

MEDICINE 157
BIOTECHNOLOGY 31
PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES 31
CHEMISTRY 23
PHARMACY 21
PUBLIC HEALTH 21

The job itself

What O*NET says the work is, what the market pays it by BLS's survey, its outlook, and DOL's wage levels year by year.

What the job pays outside PERM BLS May 2025, DOL wage year 2026-27

United States
172,340 jobs
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
South San Francisco
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
Cambridge
Salt Lake City-Murray, UT
Salt Lake City
Trenton-Princeton, NJ
Princeton
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
Smyrna

$100k$150k$200k

middle half of pay (BLS)
median
10th to 90th percentile
DOL's Levels I to IV, left to right
median PERM offer

Market pay and DOL wage levels, by area
Area	BLS median	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV
United States	$103,410
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$160,180	$108,909	$133,099	$157,310	$181,501
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$129,500	$85,550	$109,533	$133,494	$157,477
Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$82,940	$68,016	$81,682	$95,368	$109,034
Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$133,870	$96,554	$116,542	$136,552	$156,541
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$87,490	$68,598	$88,400	$108,222	$128,024

How these figures fit together

BLS surveys employers on what they pay everyone in a job; DOL builds its four levels from the same survey a year later (the July 2026 wage year uses BLS's May 2025 estimates). DOL publishes levels by area, not nationally, so the United States line has none. Levels are hourly in DOL's tables; here they're shown a year at 2,080 hours, as DOL computes them. The metros are the ones holding the most of this job's PERM filings, placed by Census's county files.

The block is the middle half of what employers report paying everyone in this job, citizen or not; the ticks under it are DOL's four prevailing wage levels for that metro, the floors a PERM or H-1B offer is held to. More

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics; DOL OFLC wage tables

DOL's levels for this job in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA, year by year

Each July DOL resets the four levels from BLS's newest survey. A determination keeps the figures of the year it was issued in.

DOL wage levels by wage year, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
Wage year	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV
2026-27	$108,909	$133,099	$157,310	$181,501
2025-26	$101,858	$125,278	$148,678	$172,099
2024-25	$99,715	$120,078	$140,462	$160,826
2023-24	$94,432	$117,416	$140,421	$163,405
2022-23	$86,195	$111,509	$136,802	$162,115
2021-22	$89,606	$109,928	$130,250	$150,571

Every area and both wage tables in the wage-level tool.

What the job is

Conduct research dealing with the understanding of human diseases and the improvement of human health. Engage in clinical investigation, research and development, or other related activities.

Preparation: Extensive Preparation Needed; O*NET Job Zone 5
DOL's education basis: Doctoral or professional degree; Wage year 2026-27, on DOL's Appendix A list
Jobs, 2025 to 2035: +12.6%; About 10,500 openings a year (BLS)
Typical entry: Doctoral or professional degree; BLS

Bright Outlook O*NET OnLine lists this job for rapid growth.

The work, most important first

Follow strict safety procedures when handling toxic materials to avoid contamination.
Evaluate effects of drugs, gases, pesticides, parasites, and microorganisms at various levels.
Plan and direct studies to investigate human or animal disease, preventive methods, and treatments for disease.
Prepare and analyze organ, tissue, and cell samples to identify toxicity, bacteria, or microorganisms or to study cell structure.
Conduct research to develop methodologies, instrumentation, and procedures for medical application, analyzing data and presenting findings to the scientific audience and general public.
Teach principles of medicine and medical and laboratory procedures to physicians, residents, students, and technicians.

The education workers in it report

Bachelor's Degree

8%
Master's Degree

25%
Post-Master's Certificate

7%
Doctoral Degree

36%
Post-Doctoral Training

25%

Titles people use for it

Clinical Research Scientist, Research Scientist, Scientist, Study Director, Clinical Laboratory Scientist (Clinical Lab Scientist), Clinical Pharmacologist, Medical Researcher, Physician Scientist.

This section includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database and O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. PERM Tracker has modified some of this information (the shares are rounded and only the top tasks are shown); what changed. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Against other jobs

Where this sits in the ranking

Ranked 443 of 1,410 by volume: 442 filed at least as many filings, and 967 filed no more.

Just above: RECYCLING AND RECLAMATION WORKER 56 filings
Just below: Tree Trimmers and Pruners 54 filings

Other life, physical and social science roles

Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. More

Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. Wages inside a group still swing hard, because the group holds every seniority level and every metro.

The same job on H-1B

28,760 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $70,000 a year; the middle half ran $60,112 to $90,915. By state and year in the salary explorer.

Notes on these numbers

Reading the wage

A floor, not a salary survey: every level and metro mixed. DOL's four wage levels for this job, by area.

What the median is

The median wage employers committed to in federal filings for this occupation. It mixes every experience level and every metro, and it's a floor: the employer must offer at least the prevailing wage DOL determines for the occupation, level and county. Across all PERM filings the middle half of offered wages runs $45,178 to $141,357, so a figure inside that band is unremarkable whichever occupation it belongs to. The levels page reads DOL's OFLC wage search live.

What these numbers don't say

4 notes

The code is the identity: This one is SOC 19-1042. Two SOC codes can carry the same job title, so a title that looks duplicated on the ranking is two different occupations. Match on the code when you're checking a specific filing.
A median isn’t an offer: It's the middle of all 55 wages committed to for this occupation across the country, entry level and principal alike. The same role's medians swing hard by worksite, which the state map shows directly.
Approval isn’t about the occupation: The denial rate moves with what happened in the filing rather than with the job title, so nothing here is a property of SOC 19-1042. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
Nothing here is pending: All 55 counted here carry a decision date, because every case in DOL's disclosure files does, so a case still waiting is in none of them. The largest filer of this occupation is AMGEN INC.. Where the queue stands today is on the processing times page.

The window these figures cover: DOL's PERM disclosure files for fiscal years 2024 to 2026, through the third quarter of 2026, 373,939 decided cases. Nothing pending is counted here. How each figure is built

Weighing an offer?

Compare it against this median, then check the state map, where the same occupation's medians swing hard by worksite.

Setting one?

All 1,410 occupations sort together on the wages page, and denial rates show how outcome moves with the offered wage.

Filings newer than DOL's last published file can't be attributed to this occupation until DOL publishes them. The live list on the case search page carries them by employer.

Case data: DOL quarterly disclosure files (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly

Employers and firms: Derived from DOL's disclosure files · data through Jun 30, 2026 · rebuilt with each quarterly load

O*NET occupation data: O*NET Database, USDOL/ETA (onetcenter.org) · data through Aug 16, 2026 · twice a year

BLS market pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (bls.gov) · data through May 31, 2025 · yearly, each spring

BLS employment projections: BLS Employment Projections (bls.gov) · data through Dec 31, 2025 · yearly, each autumn

DOL wage tables: DOL OFLC wage data downloads (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jul 1, 2026 · yearly, each july

What each source includes

Case data: Decided PERM cases only. A case still waiting isn't in here, so counts and durations describe finished cases.

Employers and firms: Employers, law firms and occupations ranked from decided cases only.

O*NET occupation data: What O*NET says each occupation is and takes: its description, tasks, Job Zone and the education workers report. A description of the job everywhere, not of any one employer's opening.

BLS market pay: What employers report paying everyone in each job, nationally, by state and by metro, from BLS's yearly survey (May of the year named). Citizens and immigrants alike; not PERM offers.

BLS employment projections: BLS's ten-year projection of each job's employment and yearly openings, and the entry education it calls typical. A projection, not a count.

DOL wage tables: The four prevailing wage levels DOL publishes for every job in every area, each wage year from 2021-22, as DOL's own tables print them. The floors an offer is held to, not what anyone was paid.

Cite this page

Waiting on a PERM case?

When it'll likely be decided
An email when DOL moves it