Comparing wage and hour enforcement in agriculture under the Trump and Biden administrations: Number of investigations in agriculture, employees receiving back wages, total back wages assessed, back wages per employee, and civil money penalties, fiscal years 2018–2020 and 2022
| Fiscal Year | Number of investigations in agriculture | Employees receiving back wages | Back wages assessed (2022$) | Average back wages per employee (2022$) | Civil money penalties assessed (2022$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trump administration | |||||
| 2018 | 1,076 | 9,015 | $4,903,710 | $544 | $7,627,158 |
| 2019 | 1,125 | 8,972 | $6,937,131 | $773 | $7,244,715 |
| 2020 | 1,036 | 11,175 | $8,108,569 | $726 | $7,248,539 |
| TOTALS 2018-20 | 3,237 | 29,162 | $19,949,410 | – | $22,120,412 |
| AVERAGE 2018-20 | 1,079 | 9,721 | $6,649,803 | $684 | $7,373,471 |
| Biden administration | |||||
| 2022 | 879 | 8,260 | $5,815,943 | $704 | $7,983,598 |
Note: Dollar amounts reported have been adjusted for inflation to constant 2022 dollars using the CPI-U-RS. As a result, the dollar amounts presented here may differ from the amounts reported in the source data. For the purposes of this comparison, data for the first fiscal year of the Trump and Biden administrations have been excluded (see discussion in text).
Source: Authors’ analysis of U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Agriculture data table (last accessed February 26, 2023).