News
H-2A numbers back up trouble finding labor
The U.S. Department of Labor shows an increase demand for foreign farm workers in the first quarter of 2018 and over the past five years.
American Farm Bureau economist Veronica Nigh says farmers are increasingly turning to the H-2A foreign worker program to find more labor, even after increasing wages to draw more domestic workers, “We continue to see those stories on the ground that farmers are unable to find the labor that they need and, therefore, they’re not able to harvest all of their crops. And, the fact that we keep seeing more and more legislation introduced, year after year, suggests that this is a long-term issue that we’re going to have to deal with as an industry.”
The Labor Department certified 15-percent more positions in the H-2A program in the first quarter of this year, compared to the first quarter of 2018. And, demand for farm labor through the program is up more than 100-percent from 2013.
Farmers have to advertise available jobs to the domestic workforce before using the H-2A program and have increased wages to attract help, “You would think that increasing wages would draw more domestic workers to those positions but what we’re actually seeing is that farmers are not able to hire those domestic workers and are turning increasingly so to the H-2A program.”
We have millions of unemployed Americans! Pay a decent wage and provide decent working conditions and there is no reason why you can’t get all the farm workers you need without foreign labor!