Foreign seasonal workers employed at Pacific Northwest farms under the federal H-2A agricultural visa program will see reduced hourly wages following a recent adjustment by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The change, announced under Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, affects the "adverse effect wage rate" (AEWR) used to determine minimum pay levels for foreign agricultural workers.
In Oregon, wages for H-2A workers will decrease from US$19.82 per hour to as low as US$15.25, a 23% drop, while more skilled positions will pay around US$17.62 per hour. The AEWR is designed to ensure foreign labor does not undercut the wages of domestic farmworkers. "The Department of Labor has been given a duty by Congress to figure out what the right wage to set things at, so that foreign workers are not coming in at a level below what U.S. farm workers are making," said Enrique Gastelum, CEO of the Worker and Farmer Labor Association, based in Washington.
As of October, more than 3,700 H-2A workers have been certified to work in Oregon for the 2025 season. The program allows agricultural employers facing labor shortages to hire temporary foreign workers, most of whom come from Mexico. The Pacific Northwest, including Oregon, Washington, and California, has seen increased use of the program over the past decade.
Gastelum noted that H-2A wages had increased rapidly in recent years, often by around 10% annually, due to calculations based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Labor Survey. That survey was discontinued in August. He said the data excluded local agricultural labor contractors, which inflated wage estimates. "And so it started accumulating to the point where the cost for labor-intensive farms that have been using the H-2A program was getting out of control," he said.
Industry groups such as the Oregon Farm Bureau support the new rate adjustment, citing pressure from rising costs. "Labor costs can be nearly half the cost of production, making it hard for family farmers to break even and more expensive to grow food domestically. Oregon is a specialty crop state and will benefit greatly from this change," the group said in a statement.
However, the decision has been widely criticized by farmworker unions. United Farm Workers called the policy "a money grab for corporate agribusiness," stating that "when guest worker wages are lowered, it is American jobs that are lost." The group estimated the change could reduce farmworker income by one-third, with overall annual losses of US$2.46 billion.
The new rule also deducts US$2.11 per hour for housing costs. In Oregon, this deduction could bring some wages below the state minimum wage, in which case employers must pay the higher applicable rate.
Source: JPR
