OFLC Provides Additional Information on 2025 H-2A Hourly Adverse Effect Wage Rates
Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) posted the following announcement:
July 11, 2025. Office of Foreign Labor Certification Provides Additional Information on New 2025 H-2A Hourly Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWR) for Non-Range Occupations Using the Occupational Employment and Statistics Survey (OEWS)
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) published a Federal Register notice (FRN) on July 11, 2025, updating the 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 OEWS survey. The 2023 AEWR final rule methodology uses the OEWS to set AEWRs for non-range H-2A job opportunities that are either: (1) not classified within one of the six Standard Occupational Classification codes that comprise the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Labor Survey (FLS) field and livestock workers (combined) category or (2) located in States or regions, or equivalent districts or territories, for which the FLS does not report a wage. AEWRs are the minimum wage rates DOL has determined must be offered, advertised in recruitment, and paid by employers to H-2A workers and workers in corresponding employment for a particular occupation and area so that the wages and working conditions of similarly employed workers in the United States will not be adversely affected.
This FRN provides 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 for (2) job opportunities outside of the field and livestock (combined) category throughout the United States and its territories. ETA will publish a separate FRN in December 2025, providing updated AEWRs for field and livestock workers (combined) category in the remaining states for which the FLS provides data, which will be released in late November 2025.
OFLC’s regulation at 20 CFR 655.120(b)(2) states that “[t]he updated AEWR will be effective as of the date of publication of the notice in the Federal Register.” This FRN has two effective dates in light of the District Court’s decision in Kansas, et al. v. U.S. Department of Labor, No. 2:24-cv-00076-LGW-BWC (S.D. Ga., Aug. 26, 2024), which enjoined the Department from enforcing this regulatory requirement for 17 covered states and with respect to certain entities. For those persons covered by the Kansas decision, the Department applies a two-week delayed effective date in applying the new AEWRs. In any states or territories not covered by the Kansas decision, the regulatory requirement remains applicable and new AEWR rates will be immediately effective.
Important Note: In the event an employer’s job opportunity requires the performance of agricultural labor or services that are not encompassed in a single SOC code’s description and tasks, the applicable AEWR will be the highest AEWR for all applicable SOCs. See 20 CFR 655.120(b)(5).