Updated October 16, 2026

PERM occupation, SOC 27-3031.00, #153 of 1,410 by filings

Public Relations Specialists

3,973 H-1B LCAs

Biggest sponsor: Appro, Inc · 1% of its filings
Busiest state: CA · 28% of its filings
Major group: Arts, design, media and sport · SOC 27

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

This rate is level with the field

Over 305 decided filings, this rate can't be told apart from the field in either direction.

Why

The 95% interval runs up to a 5.9% denial rate, which still covers the 3.20% the field as a whole records.

Median wage

$52,562

all PERM $103,272

Filings

316

#153 of 1,410

Approval

96.7%

field 96.8%

Median days

482

5 slower 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

$52,562above 35%

$18k $500k

Approval rate

96.7%ahead of 52%

49% 100%

Median days to decision

482 daysahead of 33%

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

The wage ladder, year by year Public Relations Specialists, certified offers

5th to 95th
25th to 75th
Median
10th and 90th

FY2025

$55,206 median · 150 certified cases
FY2026

$52,000 median · 135 certified cases

$40k$60k$80k$100k

10th: $38,142; +0.7% since FY2025
Median: $52,000; -5.8% since FY2025
90th: $83,448; -18.6% since FY2025
95th: $99,560; -8.6% since FY2025

Each row is that fiscal year's certified filings, counted on their own. A percentile is over the year, so a year with far fewer cases behind it is a thinner measurement than one with more.

Offered wage percentiles by fiscal year, with the number of certified cases behind each row.
Fiscal year	Cases	5th	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	95th
FY2025	150	$36,784	$37,873	$46,155	$55,206	$73,256	$102,510	$108,940
FY2026	135	$36,608	$38,142	$45,406	$52,000	$69,566	$83,448	$99,560

A median answers whether pay moved. More

A median answers whether pay moved. The whole ladder answers which part of it moved, and those are not the same question: a distribution can hold its middle while its top stretches away.

DOL PERM disclosure files, certified cases only

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

How this is counted

The employers with the most applications under this code. 14 of 316 filings, 4% of the total.

Firms filing it

FRAGOMEN DEL REY BERNSEN & LOEWY LLP 12 filings
Jiunn-Liang Sheu, Esq. 12 filings
Immigration Lawyers PLLC 7 filings
Kim, Song and Associates, PLLC 7 filings
Law Offices of James S. Hong 7 filings
Getech Law LLC 6 filings

How this is counted

The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 51 of 316 filings, 16% of the total.

Where the jobs are

California 87
New York 60
Florida 36
New Jersey 21
Texas 17
Georgia 14

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 235 of 316 filings.

Where the work is

New York, NY 40
Los Angeles, CA 16
Miami, FL 11
San Francisco, CA 7
Atlanta, GA 5
City of Industry, CA 5

How this is counted

The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 84 of 316 filings.

Newspapers it advertised in

The New York Times

33 cases
Los Angeles Times

23 cases
Miami Herald

18 cases
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

13 cases
San Francisco Chronicle

13 cases
Los Angeles Daily News

12 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

276 cases
Local or ethnic newspapers

269 cases
Radio or TV ads

140 cases
The employer's website

105 cases
Employee referral programs

33 cases
Campus placement offices

27 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

40%
90 to 119 days

25%
120 to 149 days

16%
150 to 180 days

18%
Over 180 days

0.7%

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

China 3
Taiwan 3
South Korea 2
Canada 1
Poland 1
Thailand 1

Worker's education

Bachelor's 6
Master's 5
Other 1

Visa held when filed

H-1B 6
B-2 1
F-1 1
TN 1

Schools

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2
BOSTON UNIVERSITY 1
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON 1
MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY 1
ORAL ROBERTS UNIVERSITY 1
PAI CHAI UNIVERSITY 1

Fields of study

BACHELORS DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 1
BACHELORS IN LAW 1
COMMUNICATION 1
COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA 1
COMMUNICATIONS 1
JOURNALISM 1

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
283,380 jobs
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
New York
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
Los Angeles, City of Industry
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL
Miami
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
San Francisco
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
Atlanta

$50k$100k$150k

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	$74,750
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$84,130	$58,282	$78,666	$99,029	$119,413
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$79,860	$54,558	$72,093	$89,606	$107,141
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$64,600	$41,205	$56,867	$72,530	$88,192
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$102,520	$64,646	$89,357	$114,067	$138,778
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$78,920	$51,522	$70,782	$90,043	$109,304

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 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ, 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, New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
Wage year	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV
2026-27	$58,282	$78,666	$99,029	$119,413
2025-26	$54,995	$75,254	$95,534	$115,794
2024-25	$52,562	$72,155	$91,770	$111,363
2023-24	$51,314	$70,491	$89,690	$108,867
2022-23	$50,024	$67,808	$85,592	$103,376
2021-22	$45,115	$63,814	$82,514	$101,213

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

What the job is

Promote or create an intended public image for individuals, groups, or organizations. May write or select material for release to various communications media. May specialize in using social media.

Preparation: Considerable Preparation Needed; O*NET Job Zone 4
DOL's education basis: Bachelor's degree; Wage year 2026-27, on DOL's Appendix A list
Jobs, 2025 to 2035: +1.8%; About 23,000 openings a year (BLS)
Typical entry: Bachelor's degree; BLS

The work, most important first

Respond to requests for information from the media or designate an appropriate spokesperson or information source.
Plan or direct development or communication of programs to maintain favorable public or stockholder perceptions of an organization's accomplishments, agenda, or environmental responsibility.
Post and update content on the company's Web site and social media outlets.
Write press releases or other media communications to promote clients.
Establish or maintain cooperative relationships with representatives of community, consumer, employee, or public interest groups.
Confer with other managers to identify trends or key group interests or concerns or to provide advice on business decisions.

The education workers in it report

Bachelor's Degree

91%
Master's Degree

9%

Titles people use for it

Communications Specialist, Public Affairs Specialist, Public Information Officer, Public Relations Specialist (PR Specialist), Community Relations Coordinator, Corporate Communications Specialist, Information and Communications Specialist, Media Relations Specialist.

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 153 of 1,410 by volume: 152 filed at least as many filings, and 1,257 filed no more.

Just above: Chemical Engineers 318 filings
Just below: Computer User Support Specialists 315 filings

Other arts, design, media and sport 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

3,973 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $65,000 a year; the middle half ran $53,664 to $85,000. 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 27-3031.00. 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 316 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 Public Relations Specialists. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
Nothing here is pending: All 316 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 Appro, 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