AEWR - What's Changed
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson and this is today’s Fruit Grower Report. Recent changes the Department of Labor announced to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate was great news for farm employers.
Kate Tynan, Senior Vice President at the Northwest Horticultural Council, says the AEWR was calculated with data from the Farm Labor Survey, but now …
TYNAN … “For the first time, they’re acknowledging a few things. First, the data set does not include things like bonuses and overtime pay. It recognizes that a base wage should be established based off of base wage data.”
Tynan says another important factor …
TYNAN … “It also addresses skill level. So, it actually sets two different wage rates for different activities that workers may be doing depending on the skill that is required in order to fulfill that task. So, I think that will be much more reflective of the realities.”
And finally, Tynan says are there are other bonus benefits to consider …
TYNAN … “They also, for the first time, recognize that there are non-monetary benefits that H-2A workers receive that should be accounted for in overall compensation packages. And they did that by creating an adjustment factor for H-2A workers to account for the free housing that those workers receive which is not a benefit that most domestic workers receive.”
So, Tynan says domestic workers would be required to have a higher wage rate than the H-2A workers because of the free housing considerations.
