Is H-2A Stealing Ag Jobs?
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. Despite the claims by some that H-2A foreign guestworkers are taking jobs from American workers, the numbers don’t back them up.
Kate Tynan, Vice President at the Northwest Horticultural Council, says the state has laws that say American workers who want to work on a farm, get first shot at those jobs …
TYNAN … “The rules of the program are very explicit, that you cannot displace U.S. workers with H-2A workers. Growers are required to advertise all the details of the position as soon as the job order is filed, up through the first half of the H-2A worker’s contract.”
And that, Tynan says is without exception …
TYNAN … “They are required to hire every willing and qualified worker who shows up and applies. And if they don’t do that, they are in violation of the program, and I will say, in Washington and Oregon, we have a very robust state agency who is ensuring that those rules are being followed.”
But Tynan says the reality is …
TYNAN … “This past year there were only 32 workers who came through the state system and applied for the H-2A jobs that were out there. And we don’t even know how long that they actually ended up staying if they did end up staying. That’s less than one-tenth of one percent of the total number of H-2A jobs in the state of Washington. So, that argument just, frankly, is not based on reality.”
But so-called labor advocates argue the program puts downward pressure on domestic wages and conditions.
