On December 26, 2018, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the US Department of Labor (DOL) published a notice which mandated new wage rates that can be offered to H-2A workers by employers in 2019. The rates went into effect on January 9.
The vast majority of rates, which are determined on a state-by-state basis, increased from the 2018 rate. The 2019 wage rage for Colorado, Nevada and Utah was increased 22.8 percent from $10.69 per hour in 2018 to $13.13 while Idaho, Montana and Wyoming saw their rates jump from $11.63 per hour to $13.48 per hour, a 15.9 percent increase from 2018. The overall national average increase for 2019 was 6.2 percent.
Federal law requires that the employment of a H-2A worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of US workers that are similarly employed.
The wage requirement, known as the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), is the minimum wage that DOL determines must be offered and paid to US and alien workers by agricultural employers of H-2A visa agricultural workers.
In order to determine the AEWR, DOL uses data collected by the US Department of Agriculture during a quarterly survey of the wages of field and livestock workers throughout the US.
A lawsuit has been filed against the 2019 wage rates.
The lawsuit asserts that DOL “does not measure for and does not make specific findings as to the existence of “adverse effect” of H-2A employment on U.S. farmworkers” and “has now established sudden and unsustainable disastrous increases” in wage rates for 2019.
The lawsuit seeks to prevent the 2019 wage rates from going into effect “until such time as the Department makes specific findings of actual adverse effect that include these essential factors in such an analysis of whether any “adverse effect” exists as a result of employing H-2A workers.”
The 2019 AEWR rates are listed below.
| State | 2019 AEWR |
| Alabama | $11.13 |
| Arizona | 12.00 |
| Arkansas | 11.33 |
| California | 13.92 |
| Colorado | 13.13 |
| Connecticut | 13.25 |
| Delaware | 13.15 |
| Florida | 11.24 |
| Georgia | 11.13 |
| Hawaii | 14.73 |
| Idaho | 13.48 |
| Illinois | 13.26 |
| Indiana | 13.26 |
| Iowa | 13.34 |
| Kansas | 14.38 |
| Kentucky | 11.63 |
| Louisiana | 11.33 |
| Maine | 13.25 |
| Maryland | 13.15 |
| Massachusetts | 13.25 |
| Michigan | 13.54 |
| Minnesota | 13.54 |
| Mississippi | 11.33 |
| Missouri | 13.34 |
| Montana | 13.48 |
| Nebraska | 14.38 |
| Nevada | 13.13 |
| New Hampshire | 13.25 |
| New Jersey | 13.15 |
| New Mexico | 12.00 |
| New York | 13.25 |
| North Carolina | 12.25 |
| North Dakota | 14.38 |
| Ohio | 13.26 |
| Oklahoma | 12.23 |
| Oregon | 15.03 |
| Pennsylvania | 13.15 |
| Rhode Island | 13.25 |
| South Carolina | 11.13 |
| South Dakota | 14.38 |
| Tennessee | 11.63 |
| Texas | 12.23 |
| Utah | 13.13 |
| Vermont | 13.25 |
| Virginia | 12.25 |
| Washington | 15.03 |
| West Virginia | 11.63 |
| Wisconsin | 13.54 |
| Wyoming | 13.48 |
