Notice2023-27434
Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Foreign Workers in Agriculture in the United States: Adverse Effect Wage Rate for Range Occupations in 2024
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 14, 2023
Effective
January 1, 2024
Issuing agencies
Labor DepartmentEmployment and Training Administration
Abstract
The Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor (DOL) is issuing this notice to announce the 2024 Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) for the employment of temporary or seasonal nonimmigrant foreign workers (H-2A workers) to perform herding or production of livestock on the range. AEWRs are the minimum wage rates DOL has determined must be offered, advertised in recruitment, and paid by employers to H-2A workers and workers in corresponding employment so that the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States (U.S.) similarly employed will not be adversely affected. In this notice, DOL announces the annual update of the AEWR for workers engaged in the herding or production of livestock on the range, as required by the methodology previously established in 2015.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 239 (Thursday, December 14, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 239 (Thursday, December 14, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 86679]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-27434]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of
Foreign Workers in Agriculture in the United States: Adverse Effect
Wage Rate for Range Occupations in 2024
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Employment and Training Administration of the Department
of Labor (DOL) is issuing this notice to announce the 2024 Adverse
Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) for the employment of temporary or seasonal
nonimmigrant foreign workers (H-2A workers) to perform herding or
production of livestock on the range. AEWRs are the minimum wage rates
DOL has determined must be offered, advertised in recruitment, and paid
by employers to H-2A workers and workers in corresponding employment so
that the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States
(U.S.) similarly employed will not be adversely affected. In this
notice, DOL announces the annual update of the AEWR for workers engaged
in the herding or production of livestock on the range, as required by
the methodology previously established in 2015.
DATES: The rate is effective January 1, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Pasternak, Administrator, Office
of Foreign Labor Certification, Employment and Training Administration,
Department of Labor, N-5311, 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC
20210, Telephone: (202) 693-8200 (this is not a toll-free number).
Individuals with hearing or speech impairments may access the telephone
number above via TTY by calling the toll-free Federal Information Relay
Service at 1 (877) 889-5627 (TTY/TDD).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services of the Department of Homeland Security will not approve an
employer's petition for the admission of H-2A nonimmigrant temporary
and seasonal agricultural workers in the U.S. unless the petitioner has
received an H-2A labor certification from DOL. The H-2A labor
certification provides that (1) there are not sufficient U.S. workers
who are able, willing, and qualified and who will be available at the
time and place needed to perform the labor or services for which the
employer desires to hire temporary foreign workers; and (2) the
employment of the foreign worker(s) in such labor or services will not
adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the
U.S. similarly employed. See 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a),
1184(c)(1), and 1188(a); 8 CFR 214.2(h)(5); 20 CFR 655.100.
Adverse Effect Wage Rate for 2024
DOL's H-2A regulations covering the herding or production of
livestock on the range, published in the Federal Register as the
Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A Foreign Workers in the
Herding or Production of Livestock on the Range in the United States,
80 FR 62958 (Oct. 16, 2015), as amended by Adjudication of Temporary
and Seasonal Need for Herding and Production of Livestock on the Range
Applications Under the H-2A Program, 86 FR 71373 (Dec. 16, 2021),
provide that employers must offer, advertise in recruitment, and pay
each worker employed under 20 CFR 655.200 through 655.235 a wage that
is at least the highest of (1) the monthly AEWR, (2) the agreed-upon
collective bargaining wage, or (3) the applicable minimum wage imposed
by Federal or State law or judicial action. See 20 CFR 655.210(g);
655.211(a)(1). Further, when the monthly AEWR is adjusted during a work
contract and is higher than both the agreed-upon collective bargaining
wage and the applicable minimum wage imposed by Federal or State law or
judicial action in effect at the time the work is performed, the
employer must pay that adjusted monthly AEWR upon the effective date
published by DOL in the Federal Register. See 20 CFR 655.211(a)(2).
As provided in 20 CFR 655.211(c)(2), the monthly AEWR for range
occupations in all States for a calendar year is based on the monthly
AEWR for the previous calendar year ($1,901.21 in 2023), adjusted by
the Employment Cost Index (ECI) for wages and salaries published by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics for the preceding October--October period.
The 12-month change in the ECI for wages and salaries of private
industry workers between September 2022 and September 2023 was 4.5
percent, resulting in a monthly AEWR for range occupations in calendar
year 2024 of $1,986.76.\1\ The national monthly AEWR rate for all range
occupations in the H-2A program in 2024 is calculated by multiplying
the monthly AEWR for calendar year 2023 by the October 2023 ECI
adjustment ($1,901.21 x 1.045 = $1,986.76) or $1,986.76. Accordingly,
any employer certified or seeking certification for range workers must
offer, advertise in recruitment, and pay each worker a wage that is at
least the highest of the monthly AEWR of $1,986.76, the agreed-upon
collective bargaining wage, or the applicable minimum wage imposed by
Federal or State law or judicial action at the time work is performed
on or after the effective date of this notice.
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\1\ The regulation at 20 CFR 655.211(c)(2) states that the
monthly AEWR is calculated based on the ECI for wages and salaries
``for the preceding October--October period.'' This regulatory
language was intended to identify the Bureau of Labor Statistics'
(BLS) October publication of ECI for wages and salaries, which
presents data for the September-to-September period. Accordingly,
the most recent 12-month change in the ECI for private sector
workers published on October 31, 2023, by BLS was used for
establishing the monthly AEWR under the regulations. See <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/eci_10312023.pdf">https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/eci_10312023.pdf</a>. The ECI for
private sector workers was used rather than the ECI for all civilian
workers given the characteristics of the H-2A herder workforce.
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Authority: 20 CFR 655.211(b).
Lenita Jacobs-Simmons,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Labor.
[FR Doc. 2023-27434 Filed 12-13-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-FP-P
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