A new Economic Policy Institute report finds that employer usage of the H-2B temporary visa program has grown dramatically in recent years—despite inadequate protections for workers and rules that are undercutting U.S. wage standards. As the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies disappear and deport much of the U.S. workforce, employers are lobbying furiously for even more H-2B visas—including for year-round jobs like meatpacking. However, this would lower wages and economy-wide revenue, according to the report. Instead, policymakers should pursue a high-road employment strategy in which workers have full labor and workplace rights that are accompanied by lawful permanent resident status (a green card), which would raise wages and spur investment.
The H-2B visa program allows employers to hire migrant workers for temporary jobs in low-wage occupations outside of agriculture like landscaping, construction, and hospitality. In 2024, the H-2B visa program grew to nearly 170,000—a record high and more than 2.5 times the size of the original annual cap.
Like other temporary work visa programs, the H-2B visa program fails to ensure that migrant workers are paid fairly, and it fails to prevent harm to workers who already reside in the United States. Employers control the immigration status of their H-2B employees, leaving workers with little bargaining power or even the ability to leave a lawbreaking employer. In addition, the families of H-2B workers in practice cannot join workers in the United States, and H-2B workers have no path to permanent residency and U.S. citizenship, which prevents them from fully participating and integrating into U.S. society and reduces their potential economic contributions.
Because of these deep flaws, employer usage of the H-2B program has had negative impacts on wages and working conditions. In all the top-15 H-2B occupations, the nationwide average hourly wage certified to be paid to H-2B workers was as much as 24.7% lower than the national average for all workers in the occupation. In the seven major industries that employ nearly all H-2B workers, employers stole over $2.2 billion in wages from U.S.-born and migrant workers between 2000 and 2024.
Some industries are seeking changes to the law that would allow them to begin or increase hiring through the H-2B program. This report offers a case study on one of those industries—meatpacking—showing that an alternative policy that provides green cards to currently unauthorized workers or allows hiring new workers with green cards—instead of H-2B visas—would lead to an additional $2.62 billion dollars flowing to local economies surrounding meatpacking plants. This would occur through wage increases for immigrant workers, additional spending in local economies, a reduction in remittances, and funds generated by working spouses of new immigrant workers.
The report also includes policy recommendations for Congress to reform the H-2B visa program by providing migrant workers with new protections, fairer wages, and a path to citizenship—as well as ensuring U.S. workers are adequately considered for open temporary and seasonal jobs.
“Expanding the H-2B program by increasing the number of visas and allowing it to be used for year-round jobs will simply allow unscrupulous employers to carve out an even larger rights-free zone in the low-wage labor market,” said Daniel Costa, EPI director of immigration law and policy research. “Employers should instead demand changes to the law that provide undocumented workers with a green card and give H-2B workers a quick path to a green card. This would ensure equal rights for workers and boost spending in local economies.”