This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Loan Huynh, Fredrikson Immigration Department Chair, is a member.
A Federal Register notice published on June 16, 2023, by the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) updated the Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWRs) under the H-2A temporary agricultural employment program that apply to a limited set of H-2A job opportunities for which the AEWR is determined using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Statistics Survey (OEWS). The notice provided OEWS-based AEWRs for (1) the field and livestock workers (combined) category in Alaska, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and (2) job opportunities outside of that category throughout the United States and its territories.
ETA said it will publish a separate notice in December 2023 providing updated AEWRs for this category in the 49 states for which the Department of Agriculture's Farm Labor Survey provides data. Updated information will be posted on OFLC's AEWR page on the Foreign Labor Application Gateway in July.
