Overview
- Emergency rules that took effect on January 1 revise how H-2A wages are calculated, allowing farms to hire more guest workers at lower hourly rates.
- The Labor Department has warned that an abrupt drop in undocumented inflows combined with too few legal workers is disrupting costs and threatening food production and prices.
- The changes permit employers to count housing toward compensation, with estimated hourly pay reductions ranging from about $1 to $7 depending on the state.
- The United Farm Workers has filed suit challenging the rulemaking process and arguing the policy harms both foreign H-2A laborers and U.S. farm employees.
- An Economic Policy Institute analysis estimates roughly $2 billion in lost pay for H-2A workers and $3 billion in downward pressure on other farm wages as Congress considers a bipartisan H-2A overhaul.