Briefing Papers Number 12, December 2011 | Page 10

local prevailing wage of their occupation, whichever of these
is higher.40 Current AEWR rates range from about $9 to
$11 an hour.41 If Congress did not agree on a new wage rate
within three years of the enactment of AgJOBS, future raises
would be tied to the Consumer Price Index and could rise
by as much as 4 percent per year.42 This would increase the
earnings of lower-paid farm workers,’ who are working at or
near the minimum wage. The average wage rate of U.S. farm
workers is $10.07 per hour.43

Andrew Wainer

The Politics of AgJOBS

A worker in eastern Washington state sorts apples at a packing
warehouse. U.S. apple orchards are heavily dependent on
immigrant labor.

H-2A Guest Worker Reform
The AgJOBS bill includes a reformed H-2A agricultural
guest worker program that would reinforce the program’s
status as the nation’s only legal source of agricultural labor.
According to agricultural economist Philip Martin, about
100,000 (10 percent) of the total 1 million long-season farm
jobs are now filled through the H-2A program, up from
about 30,000 in the mid-1990s.37
Under the bill’s provisions, employer “attestation” would
replace “certification” in the H-2A program, reducing the
Department of Labor’s (DOL) involvement in confirming
employers’ need for guest workers. Under this model, employers would assure the DOL that they have vacant jobs
available, are paying minimum wage, and are complying
with other H-2A requirements. DOL would review and approve employer attestations within seven days.38
Under the current H-2A program, growers are required
to provide free housing for workers. AgJOBS would allow
employers the alternative of paying a housing allowance to
workers, provided that the governor of the state where a farm
is located agrees that sufficient rental housing is available.
Experts say that this allowance would result in an increase in
wages of about $200-$300 a month, depending on local rental costs.39 A housing allowance would provide farm workers
with more options as to where to live, but it could also mean
they spend more of their own income on housing.
AgJOBS would also roll back the “Adverse Effect Wage
Rate” (AEWR) that H-2A workers receive by $1-$2 and subject it to studies by government and independent commissions. Under the AEWR, agricultural guest workers must be
paid the AEWR, the state or federal minimum wage, or the
10 Briefing Paper, December 2011

With both growers and farm workers on board for agricultural labor reform, the prospects for AgJOBS would seem
good. At one time, the bill appeared to be headed straight
for passage; a version of AgJOBS introduced in the Senate
in 2000 had strong Republican support and was seen as the
most likely immigration policy reform to pass.
But over the past decade, the opponents of immigration
reform have blocked the enactment of AgJOBS. “Gradually
the moderate Republicans that have supported AgJOBS
have been weeded out of the Senate either by retirement or
they’ve lost,” says Rob Williams, project director of Migrant
Farmworker Justice. “On the Republican side we had strong
support… [