On October 2, 2025, the Department of Labor published an interim final rule (IFR) that will change how DOL calculates the appropriate minimum wage for some migrant farm workers on temporary work visas. 

The H-2A visa program is used to fill seasonal and temporary jobs in agriculture, after employers go through a (not very rigorous) process to prove that they could not find an available U.S. worker to hire. It’s a fast-growing program with no annual limits on how many visas can be issued. Most H-2A workers are employed on crop farms—picking fruits and vegetables—and the average duration of an H-2A job is roughly six months. 

The H-2A temporary work visa program requires that workers on H-2A visas be paid the highest of the local, state, or federal minimum wage, unless there is an applicable local prevailing wage or collective bargaining agreement—or the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) if it is higher, which is calculated and set by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) based on survey data. In fact, the vast majority of H-2A farmworkers have been paid the AEWR, since until now it was almost always higher than any of the otherwise applicable minimum wages. The purpose of the AEWR is to ensure that H-2A workers are paid a wage that is consistent with U.S. wage standards on farms and to prevent adverse impacts of H-2A employment on U.S. farmworkers’ wages. But the agricultural industry has pushed lawmakers and federal agencies to modify the AEWR methodology to push H-2A wages as low as possible. 

Impact:  

It is well documented that the H-2A program is rife with abuse and workers are not adequately protected, in part because H-2A farmworkers are indentured to their employers through their visa status and due to lax government oversight. Despite the essential nature of their work growing and putting food on the table for all in the U.S., there have been countless exposés from journalists and advocates that reveal how H-2A farmworkers are frequently robbed, exploited, victimized, and trafficked, and EPI has shown how most back wages stolen and employer penalties levied on farms come from employers breaking H-2A rules. 

This interim final rule cuts the pay of H-2A farmworkers, by reducing the minimum wages paid to them and through the creation of a new housing deduction that will be taken from the hourly wages of H-2A workers, as much as 30% of their hourly wage. – The pay cuts for H-2A workers are so massive that they will also impact U.S. farmworkers, including those who are legal residents or U.S. citizens. By lowering wage rates implemented by the Department of Labor (DOL), EPI has estimated that over 350,000 H-2A farmworkers could see their annual wages cut by a total of $2 billion or more—between 26% to 32% of their wages. These significant wage cuts for H-2A workers will put downward pressure on the wages of U.S. farmworkers, reducing their total annual wages by about $3 billion—up to 9% of their total wages. Total losses in pay for all farmworkers will range from $4.4 to $5.4 billion—roughly 10% to 12% of their total wages—according to EPI’s estimates. This would amount to a massive pay cut for farmworkers who are already some of the lowest-paid employees in the entire U.S. labor market, while working in one of the most difficult and dangerous jobs in the economy.