Survey of Labor Wages Pt2

With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. The annual Ag Wage and Practice survey is including workers, along with employers, for the first time this year.

The University of Washington is administering the surveys on behalf of the state Employment Security Department that covers jobs for which farmers have requested H-2A workers ...

GUSTAVO AVILES ... "By guidelines of the Department of Labor, we need to identify what are the wages that are being paid for different crop variety and activities in agriculture. And so far, we haven't noticed any issues with the responses that we're getting. We're monitoring very closely in trying to make sure that our questions were designed in the right way so that we get the responses we are expecting and so far the responses that we're getting are valid responses."

ESD Manager of Research and Analysis, Gustavo Aviles says the surveys have been distributed and the timeline is set ...

GUSTAVO AVILES ... "The worker's survey, it will end by mid-December. Throughout December, January and February, we will do the data analysis. First, we will estimate the prevailing wages for all the crops and animals or any commodity for which there was a job order for foreign workers, an H-2A job order. And then, by the end of February, our objective is to submit those results to the Department of Labor and they are the ones who make the final determination."

Aviles says results from both the workers and employers surveys will be posted on the Employment Security website once they become available.