Dec 19, 2023

AEWR update sparks reaction from growers

The U.S. Department of Labor’s annual update to Adverse Effect Wage Rates – mandated wages for foreign farmworkers on temporary visas – is drawing reaction from growers, including potato producers.

The new average AEWR, announced Dec. 14 and used for setting bond amounts for H-2A contractors, increased to $16.98, with state AEWR wages now ranging from $14.53 to $19.75.

“This announcement continues a pattern of chaotic annual changes in this mandatory minimum wage for agricultural workers,” RJ Andrus, National Potato Council president, said in a statement. “The volatile wage rate creates havoc for well-intended family farms seeking to use the H-2A program and budget for their annual operations. Its failures are a bipartisan call to Congress to finally address U.S. ag labor competitiveness through immigration reform.”

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, AEWR has outpaced increases in the national average wage for most American workers for roughly a decade, outpacing the overall U.S. Employment Cost Index (ECI) in eight of the last 10 years.

In Michigan, Rep. Elissa Slotkin has co-sponsored a bill to freeze the minimum wage for H-2A workers.

Before the update, the AEWR in that state exceeded $17.34, up 13% from the previous year, according to Michigan Farm News. Post-update, Michigan’s AEWR is $18.50, according to the Labor Department’s online Foreign Labor Application Gateway.

The effective date of the updated AEWR in most states is Jan. 1, 2024.

The Labor’s Department’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification adjusts the AEWR annually based on the ECI. An employer seeking to employ foreign workers under the H-2A program is required to offer, advertise and pay a wage that is at least equal to AEWR when that is the highest applicable rate among the wage sources applicable to the job.

“The Department understands that agricultural employers play a vital role in our nation’s economy and that obtaining a reliable workforce is critical to producing the U.S. food supply,” reads a statement on a department web page. “The Department is also bound by its statutory mandate to protect workers in the U.S. from adverse effects on their wages or working conditions resulting from hiring foreign workers.”

2024 updates according to the Labor Department, listed by location,  AEWR, source and effective date: