The farmworker wage gap in 2022: Farmworkers earn very low wages compared with other workers: Average hourly wage rate for nonsupervisory farmworkers nationwide and H-2A farmworkers in Maine compared with average hourly wages of other workers, 2022

Type Amount
H-2A farmworkers in Maine (AEWR) $15.66
Nonsupervisory farmworkers $16.62
Workers with less than HS $16.52
Workers with HS diploma only $21.94
Nonsupervisory nonfarm $27.56
All workers $32.00

Notes: All values are for 2022 and in 2022 dollars. HS = high school. H-2A wage reflects the Adverse Effect Wage Rate set by the Department of Labor for fiscal year 2022 for migrant farmworkers working in H-2A status in the state of Maine. Nonsupervisory nonfarm workers’ wage represents the average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees, total for the private sector, not seasonally adjusted. Nonsupervisory farmworkers’ wage is the gross average hourly wage of field and livestock workers. Data for all workers, and for workers with a high school diploma and less than high school, can be found at the Economic Policy Institute State of Working America Data Library. 

Source: Author’s analysis of USDA Farm Labor Survey data and nonfarm wage data from the BLS Current Employment Statistics survey; EPI analysis of CPI-ORG microdata; Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Foreign Workers in Agriculture in the United States: Adverse Effect Wage Rates for Non-Range Occupations in 2022, 86 Fed. Reg. 71282 (December 15, 2021).

View the underlying data on epi.org.