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The H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers Program in 2020

Author

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  • Castillo, Marcelo
  • Martin, Philip
  • Rutledge, Zachariah

Abstract

The H-2A program allows U.S. agricultural employers who anticipate labor shortages to be certified by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to employ guest workers. Over the last decade, the number of jobs certified to be filled by H-2A workers increased from 75,000 in 2010 to 275,000 in 2020. By 2020, H-2A workers accounted for an estimated 10 percent of the average employment on U.S. crop farms. This report uses all H-2A employer applications that DOL certified in fiscal year (FY) 2020 to show how H-2A employment varies by State (and by counties within the top sponsor States), industry, employer size, type of farm employer requesting the workers (labor contractor, individual farmer, or growers association), and type of the third party filing the application on behalf of employers (H-2A agent, lawyer, growers association, or farmers themselves). The report estimates that employers paid $3.5 billion in wages to H-2A workers in FY 2020. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in March 2021 proposed to freeze the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), which is a minimum wage for H-2A workers, for 1 year. We find that an AEWR freeze might have saved employers of H-2A workers an estimated $169 million a year. Because freezing the wages of H-2A workers could affect the wages of U.S. domestic workers, the wage savings due to AEWR freezes are of interest for H-2A employers as well as for agricultural employers that only hire non-H-2A workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Castillo, Marcelo & Martin, Philip & Rutledge, Zachariah, 2022. "The H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers Program in 2020," USDA Miscellaneous 329068, United States Department of Agriculture.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:usdami:329068
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.329068
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    References listed on IDEAS

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