The big companies I have seen did indeed pay well. But I would not quite say that they used the law as intended. The hiring process for highly qualified contributors I've sometimes seen was more along the lines of:
1. Evaluate resumes and interview candidates, both US and foreign, practically without taking into account national origin and visa status (With the possible exception of national bans / not eligible for visa due to past deportation, etc).
2. Once decision is made, let the immigration department figure out a legal way to get the person hired a visa (through H1B, internal transfer, whatever).
3. If the H1B process prescribes advertising the position to US applicants, that will be done, but the decision for that particular job has really already been made (then again, big companies are constantly hiring, so maybe US applicants get considered for other suitable jobs).
So while I don't think these companies, in general, are trying to get cheap labor, or discriminating against US applicants, some of the provisions of the law (giving strict priority to US applicants) are only being followed in a ceremonial way, and, giving the fluid nature of job characterizations in the industry, are probably near-impossible to follow in a realistic way.
1. Evaluate resumes and interview candidates, both US and foreign, practically without taking into account national origin and visa status (With the possible exception of national bans / not eligible for visa due to past deportation, etc).
2. Once decision is made, let the immigration department figure out a legal way to get the person hired a visa (through H1B, internal transfer, whatever).
3. If the H1B process prescribes advertising the position to US applicants, that will be done, but the decision for that particular job has really already been made (then again, big companies are constantly hiring, so maybe US applicants get considered for other suitable jobs).
So while I don't think these companies, in general, are trying to get cheap labor, or discriminating against US applicants, some of the provisions of the law (giving strict priority to US applicants) are only being followed in a ceremonial way, and, giving the fluid nature of job characterizations in the industry, are probably near-impossible to follow in a realistic way.