Document
Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Foreign Workers in Agriculture in the United States: Adverse Effect Wage Rate for Range Occupations in 2022
The Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor (DOL) is issuing this notice to announce the 2022 Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) for the employment of tem...
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security will not approve an employer's petition for the admission of H-2A nonimmigrant temporary and seasonal agricultural workers in the U.S. unless the petitioner has received an H-2A labor certification from DOL. The H-2A labor certification provides that (1) there are not sufficient U.S. workers who are able, willing, and qualified and who will be available at the time and place needed to perform the labor or services involved in the petition; and (2) the employment of the foreign worker(s) in such labor or services will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the U.S. similarly employed.
See8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a), 1184(c)(1), and 1188(a); 8 CFR 214.2(h)(5); 20 CFR 655.100.
Adverse Effect Wage Rate for 2022
DOL's H-2A regulations covering the herding or production of livestock on the range, published in the
Federal Register
as the
Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A Foreign Workers in the Herding or Production of Livestock on the Range in the United States,80 FR 62958 (Oct. 16, 2015), provide that employers must offer, advertise in recruitment, and pay each worker employed under 20 CFR 655.200 through 655.235 a wage that is at least the highest of (1) the monthly AEWR, (2) the agreed-upon collective bargaining wage, or (3) the applicable minimum wage imposed by Federal or State law or judicial action.
See20 CFR 655.210(g); 655.211(a)(1). Further, when the monthly AEWR is adjusted during a work contract and is higher than both the agreed-upon collective bargaining wage and the applicable minimum wage imposed by Federal or State law or judicial action in effect at the time the work is performed, the employer must pay that adjusted monthly AEWR upon publication by DOL in the
Federal Register
. See20 CFR 655.211(a)(2).
As provided in 20 CFR 655.211(c)(2), the monthly AEWR for range occupations in all States for a calendar year is based on the monthly AEWR for the previous calendar year ($1,727.75), adjusted by the Employment Cost Index (ECI) for wages and salaries published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the preceding annual period. The 12-month change in the ECI for wages and salaries of private industry workers between September 2020 and September 2021 was 4.6 percent, resulting in a monthly AEWR for range occupations in effect for 2022 of $1,807.23.[]
The national monthly AEWR rate for all range occupations in the H-2A program in 2022 is calculated by multiplying the monthly AEWR for calendar year 2021 by the October 2021 ECI adjustment ($1,727.75 × 1.046 = $1,807.23) or $1,807.23. Accordingly, any employer certified or seeking certification for range workers must pay each worker a wage that is at least the highest of the monthly AEWR of $1,807.23, the agreed-upon collective bargaining wage, or the applicable minimum wage imposed by Federal or State law or judicial action at the time work is performed on or after the effective date of this notice.
Authority: 20 CFR 655.211(b).
Angela Hanks,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Labor.