Sponsors (15)
The bill trades short-term wage stability and predictable labor costs for farms by freezing H-2A wage rules and clarifying pay for mixed‑duty workers, against reduced wage flexibility, potential loss of purchasing power for migrant workers, downward pressure on domestic farmworker pay, and added administrative burdens.
H-2A migrant farmworkers and their employers keep the same wage floor through the end of 2026, giving short-term income stability for H-2A workers and predictable, locked-in labor costs for farms and agricultural businesses.
Workers who perform multiple duties get clearer pay determinations because wages will be set based on a defined primary task, reducing ambiguity about which duty governs pay.
Freezing AEWRs through 2026 prevents wage increases tied to changing local labor conditions and risks eroding real wages for H-2A workers if inflation or living costs rise.
The freeze reduces the Department of Labor's and states' ability to adjust wage rates in response to changed labor-market data, limiting governmental flexibility to protect workers or reflect local conditions.
By making H-2A wages relatively fixed and potentially lower than local prevailing wages, the policy could incentivize employers to rely more on H-2A labor and thereby put downward pressure on pay for domestic farmworkers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Freezes each State's H-2A Adverse Effect Wage Rate at its Dec 31, 2023 level through Dec 31, 2026 and requires a primary-duty test for multi-task employees when determining applicable wages.
Keeps each State's Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) for H-2A agricultural guestworkers at the level that was in effect on December 31, 2023, and requires the Department of Labor to maintain those rates through December 31, 2026. It also directs the Department to determine the primary job duty when an employee performs multiple tasks to decide which AEWR applies for wage-determination purposes. The law freezes state AEWR changes for H-2A workers for a three-year period to prevent downward adjustments and clarifies how to identify the primary duty for multi-task workers when setting wages.
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Labor to modify the implementation of the adverse effect wage rate for H-2A nonimmigrants.
Introduced February 26, 2025 by John Moolenaar · Last progress February 26, 2025