AEWR Duvall
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Labor is one of today’s big limiting factors in American agriculture, and the Adverse Effect Wage Rate for H-2A foreign guest-workers is one of the bigger concerns among ag employers.
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall says a flawed AEWR puts an ample workforce out of reach for many farmers …
DUVALL … “Farmers and ranchers care for the people who work on their farms. We want to pay a competitive wage to the employees who come to America through the H-2A guestworker program. But the current wage rate calculation for guestworkers is broken.”
And proof of that, Duvall says is how much the rate has grown in recent years …
DUVALL … “The Adverse Effect Wage Rate is used to determine how much farmers in each state must pay for labor. It’s more than doubled over the past two decades, and it’s growing faster than the national average for domestic workers.”
And that, Duvall says, from a fiscal perspective, needs to be remedied …
DUVALL … “The formula used to set hourly wages must be modernized, to more accurately determine a fair wage that also enables farmers to afford to hire the help they need to keep their farms in business.”
Washington state’s AEWR is at $19.82 per hour, fourth highest in the nation, behind District of Columbia, Hawaii, and California.
Again, that’s Zippy Duvall, President of the American Farm Bureau Federation.
