Trump’s Wage Gut Punch to Farmworkers

On October 2, the U.S. Department of Labor published an interim final rule that rewrites how the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) is calculated for H-2A farmworkers. The change introduces two “skill levels” and a new housing-related deduction that lowers required hourly pay by roughly $1 to $3 (and up to $3.18 in Hawaii), depending on the state. Growers cheer. Workers—nearly 400,000 positions last year—face a pay cut right as the season ends. This piece unpacks what changed, what the numbers actually say in states like California and Michigan, and why Dearborn’s community—grounded in human rights, Green values, and migrant justice—should care. ¹²³⁴⁵

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“The Department is revising the methodology for determining the hourly AEWRs…using BLS’s Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics and adding a non-wage housing adjustment.” — U.S. Department of Labor, Oct. 2, 2025. ¹

At the tail end of harvest, when organizing is hardest and workers are dispersed, the Trump administration’s Labor Department hit publish on a wage rule that moves a lot of money—away from people who pick our food and toward the bottom line of large employers. The timing is not subtle; the stakes are huge.

What changed on October 2

The interim final rule (IFR) does three big things:

1. Replaces the USDA Farm Labor Survey (FLS) with the BLS OEWS survey to set AEWRs across states—then breaks wages into two tiers: Skill Level I (entry level) and Skill Level II (experienced). ¹⁴⁵
2. Applies a “housing compensation” adjustment—a downward subtraction of about $1–$3 per hour (state-specific; $3.00 in California and $3.18 in Hawaii) from AEWRs for H-2A workers when the employer provides no-cost housing. (Domestic “corresponding” workers do not see their wage reduced by this factor.) ³⁵⁶
3. Implements immediately (Oct. 2, 2025), with a 60-day public comment window—meaning fall hiring pivots under the new formula while the notice-and-comment process is still open. ¹⁵

The agency justifies the speed as necessary because USDA stopped the Farm Labor Survey, and courts vacated the 2023 AEWR rule, creating a “regulatory gap” before 2026 rates must be posted. ¹⁷

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“Wages will drop between $1.12 and $3.18 an hour depending on the state…due in part to counting employer-provided housing as compensation.” — DTN/Progressive Farmer, Oct. 3, 2025. ⁸

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How big is the cut—really?

Numbers vary by state and by which floor applies (AEWR vs. state minimum wage vs. prevailing/CBA rate). But the direction is clear.

• California: The 2025 FLS-based AEWR was $19.97/hr. ⁹¹⁰
  Under the IFR’s new math, legal and industry advisories show entry-level (Skill I) pay for H-2A can pencil far below that—after applying the $3.00 housing adjustment. One legal brief even models $13.45 for Skill I and $15.71 for Skill II after the housing subtraction—but employers must still pay the state minimum if it’s higher. California’s statewide minimum was $16.50 in 2025 and rises to $16.90 on Jan. 1, 2026; many cities are higher. So, in practice, the floor in California becomes the state minimum, not the reduced AEWR. The effective hit is that the binding wage floor shifts from ~$20 to the minimum wage (~$16.50–$16.90) for many H-2A jobs—a $3–$4 cut versus last season’s AEWR benchmark. ^11910123
• Michigan: State analyses describe two wage levels plus a state-specific hourly housing subtraction (e.g., -$1.32/hr in some guidance), pulling Skill I below prior AEWRs and closer to, or under, the state minimum (again, the highest applicable wage still governs). ⁶
• Nationwide: Farm and grower bulletins (Farm Bureau, Michigan Farm News, Cornell Ag Workforce) all concur that the IFR lowers certified wage obligations relative to the FLS-based AEWR in most states, especially for Skill I jobs. ²⁵¹³

Two things are true at once:

• In states with low minimum wages, the new AEWR math + housing offset can materially reduce pay.
• In higher-wage states (CA/WA/NY), the new AEWR might sink below the state minimum—so the minimum becomes the real floor. That still represents a de facto cut because the earlier AEWR (~$20 in CA/WA) had functioned as the operative minimum for H-2A and corresponding workers in many crops. ⁹¹⁰⁵

Why release this now?

Because leverage. End-of-season is when workers are exhausted, scattered, and less able to risk blacklisting for speaking up before they return home. And because administrative chess: after a Louisiana court vacated the 2023 AEWR rule, DOL says it had to switch methodologies fast, especially since USDA pulled the FLS plug in September. ¹⁷

Meanwhile, the same Department has suspended enforcement of parts of the 2024 Farmworker Protection Rule (finalized under the previous administration to guard against retaliation, limit captive-audience tactics in employer housing, etc.), and moved to rescind key pieces via rulemaking. The upshot: weaker protections + lower pay. ¹⁴¹⁵¹⁶

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Scale: who’s affected?

This isn’t small-print: 384,900 H-2A positions were certified in FY 2024—a record—with over 317,000 additional positions certified by June 30, 2025. California alone accounted for 37,511 positions in FY 2024; Florida and Georgia were even higher. ¹⁷¹⁸

H-2A now supplies a large share of the U.S. crop workforce (commonly estimated in the mid-teens as a percentage of hired labor), and keeps growing as employers cite “labor shortages” amid stepped-up immigration raids. ^19172021

Housing: from safety net to lever

The IFR’s downward “housing compensation” adjustment matters because housing is where abuse hides. California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has just three full-time inspectors for all employer-provided farmworker housing statewide. Reporters documented 1,000+ violations in 2022 and—depending on the account—one or zero citations issued that year; some inspections were reportedly conducted by smartphone video. Yet under the new wage math, subpar housing is now counted as compensation that allows a lower hourly wage for H-2A workers. ^2223242526

“The state employs just three inspectors to oversee all employer-provided dwellings…inspections often happen before workers move in.” — CalMatters, July 1, 2024. ²²

That’s a perverse incentive: give workers cramped motel rooms or crowded barracks, call it “free housing,” and subtract dollars from their paychecks through the rule’s adjustment. The Green response is obvious: housing should be safe, dignified, and not a pretext for wage erosion.

Enforcement: who will catch violations?

Even before the IFR, federal enforcement capacity was historically thin. The U.S. Wage and Hour Division (WHD) had only 810 investigators overseeing 164.3 million workers in 2022—a ratio of 1 investigator per ~203,000 workers—and that staffing fell further in 2025, with analyses citing ~611 investigators, a 52-year low. Investigations of farms hit a record low in 2022. ^27282930

“As of May 2025, WHD had just 611 investigators to protect 165 million workers.” — Northwestern/Rutgers data brief. ²⁸

When enforcement is this thin, rule design matters even more. A methodology that bakes in lower wages and counts housing toward pay will predictably push wages down where monitoring is weakest.

“Labor shortage” or wage suppression?

DOL’s own IFR points to “historic near total cessation of illegal border crossings,” arguing employers need a “viable workforce alternative.” That framing locates the “shortage” in immigration enforcement rather than wage offers and working conditions. But the public record is full of cases where, when wages rise and conditions improve, workers do the work. When the piece-rate floor for Washington apple pickers disappeared in 2020, pay fell and local labor interest cratered—a policy choice with predictable results. ¹[^32]

Growers are right about one thing: H-2A is complicated and costly. But complexity becomes a smokescreen when it’s deployed to slash wages (by redefining them) instead of improving recruiting (by raising them).

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“Under the new rule, H-2A wages will drop between $1.12 and $3.18 per hour depending on the state.” — DTN/Progressive Farmer, Oct. 3, 2025. ⁸

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California case study: where the rubber meets the vine

Let’s put California’s pieces together:

• 2025 AEWR: $19.97. ⁹¹⁰
• 2025 minimum wage: $16.50; 2026: $16.90. ¹¹³¹
• IFR housing adjustment: -$3.00/hr. ³⁵
• Binding floor post-IFR: likely state minimum for many Skill I orders, unless a prevailing or CBA rate is higher. ⁵

For H-2A crews that previously earned near the AEWR (common in crops like berries, tree fruit, and leafy greens), an employer can now certify new orders at Skill I and lean on the state minimum—~$3–$4 less than last season’s AEWR benchmark—and still apply the housing adjustment to justify that lower certification. Is the check itself less than the minimum? No—minimum wage still applies. But in real-world pay setting, the anchor moved down. That’s the point.

What about the “400,000 workers” claim?

FY 2024 saw 384,900 positions certified—a fifth of the crop workforce by many estimates—with FY 2025 Q3 already at 317,408. Given the trajectory and the IFR’s immediate effect on new job orders, it’s reasonable to say hundreds of thousands are touched by this shift—right now in fall recruitment, and in 2026 when state minimums update. ^17181920

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Where Dearborn comes in

Dearborn sits at the crossroads of Arab, Latinx, Black, and immigrant communities who know the smell of soil and the feel of night shifts. Our values—nonviolence, human dignity, grassroots democracy, ecological wisdom—are not abstract. They’re the fresh parsley at Aladdin’s, the medjool dates on Warren Ave., the crates that move through Eastern Market. When an administration tells farmworkers—many from Mexico, Guatemala, Yemen, Palestine, and beyond—that their housing justifies lower wages, it tells us something about whose bodies are counted and whose budgets are buffered.

Being pro-worker and pro-Palestine share the same ethical root: stand with people whose rights are most easily papered over. As with media double-standards in war coverage, wage formulas can launder injustice through neutral-sounding metrics. Our job is to decode the math, say the quiet parts out loud, and build coalitions—unions, co-ops, and community groups—that raise standards from Dearborn to Delano.

What a fair policy would do

• Keep a transparent, farm-specific benchmark (FLS or a successor designed with farmworkers, not against them).
• Ban downward “housing” wage offsets; housing must be safe, un-crowded, inspected in-season, and never a pretext to pay less.
• Fund enforcement so that laws exist on earth, not just in the Federal Register.
• Protect organizing rights in employer housing—because that’s where power imbalances breed abuse. ¹⁴¹⁵

Dearborn’s voice matters because precision is solidarity. We say the numbers, we cite the sources, and we never forget that every decimal is a person sending remittances, paying rent, and carrying the ladder.

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Sources (detailed)

1. U.S. Department of Labor, Federal Register (Interim Final Rule): “Adverse Effect Wage Rate Methodology for the Temporary Employment of H-2A Nonimmigrants in Non-Range Occupations,” Oct. 2, 2025. Federal Register
2. EPI Policy Watch: “USDA ends the Agricultural (Farm) Labor Survey…” Sept. 3, 2025. Economic Policy Institute
3. California Department of Industrial Relations: Minimum Wage (2025 rate). Cal DIR
4. farmdoc daily (University of Illinois): “The Growing Role of H-2A Workers in U.S. Agriculture,” July 9, 2025. farmdoc daily
5. American Farm Bureau Market Intel: “Farm Labor Wage Changes Coming to H-2A,” Oct. 7, 2025. fb.org
6. USDA ERS: “Adverse effect wage rates (AEWR), 2025” (map; CA $19.97). Economic Research Service
7. DOL OFLC (Preview AEWRs PDF; 2025 table): CA $19.97. DOL
8. DOL OFLC, H-2A Selected Statistics FY2024 Q4 (positions certified 384,900; CA 37,511). DOL
9. DOL OFLC, H-2A Selected Statistics FY2025 Q3 (positions certified 317,408 as of June 30, 2025). DOL
10. Fisher Phillips (employment law): “DOL Issues Game-Changer Rule for H-2A Farmworker Wages,” Oct. 2, 2025 (examples incl. CA housing offset scenario; highest-of rule). Fisher Phillips
11. UnitedAg advisory (California): overview of Level I ~ state minimum and Level II $18.71; $3.00 housing adjustment noted across industry resources. Oct. 1, 2025. UnitedAg
12. DTN/Progressive Farmer: “DOL Issues New H-2A Rule Cutting Hourly Wages…” Oct. 3, 2025. Dtnpf
13. DOL background: 2023/2010 AEWR methodology explainer and shift to OEWS. DOL
14. San Francisco Chronicle: “Minimum wage set to rise in California on Jan. 1, 2026 (to $16.90).” Aug. 2025. San Francisco Chronicle
15. American Farm Bureau: “2025 AEWR – Labor Costs Continue to Climb” and Market Intel explainer on new two-tier AEWR and housing adjustment. Nov. 21, 2024 / Oct. 7, 2025. fb.org+1
16. Cornell Ag Workforce: “Major H-2A Wage Changes: Overview of New AEWR Methodology,” Oct. 10, 2025. agworkforce.cals.cornell.edu
17. Michigan Farm News: “New H-2A wage rule analyzed…” Oct. 7, 2025 (state-specific hourly housing subtraction example). michiganfarmnews.com
18. Reuters: “Trump administration suspends enforcement of Biden-era farmworker rule,” June 20, 2025. Reuters
19. Federal Register: Proposed Rescission of 2024 “Improving Protections for Workers in Temporary Agricultural Employment” (H-2A) rule, July 2, 2025. Federal Register
20. EPI Policy Watch: “Department of Labor halts enforcement of expanded labor protections…” June 24, 2025. Economic Policy Institute
21. American Farm Bureau Market Intel: “Critical Farm Labor Visa Use Ticks Up” (384,900 in FY2024). Dec. 27, 2024. fb.org
22. GAO report: “H-2A Visa Program: Agencies Should Take Additional Steps…” Nov. 14, 2024. Government Accountability Office
23. CalMatters: “California inspectors struggle to ensure safe farmworker housing,” July 1, 2024 (only three HCD inspectors statewide). CalMatters
24. CalMatters newsletter: “How and why we dug into farmworker housing,” July 12, 2024 (three inspectors). CalMatters
25. Civil Eats: “Farmworker youth take action…” June 3, 2025 (HCD issued no citations in 2022; permits without inspection). Civil Eats
26. Davis Vanguard opinion: “California’s Hidden Farmworker Housing Crisis,” Apr. 5, 2025 (1,000+ violations, one citation). Davis Vanguard
27. JURIST commentary: “California’s Failure to Address…Housing Crisis,” Mar. 31, 2025 (1,000+ violations, single citation). JURIST
28. EPI report: investigator ratios (810 investigators; 1 per 202,824 workers, 2022). Aug. 22, 2023. Economic Policy Institute
29. Northwestern/Rutgers data brief: 611 investigators as of May 2025 (52-year low). May 29, 2025. Northwestern Now+1
30. EPI press release: farm investigations at record low (2022). Aug. 22, 2023. Economic Policy Institute
31. DOL WHD (FY 2024 impact): $273M back wages recovered (context for limited staff). DOL
32. Capital Press: “U.S. Labor Department moves to reduce farm labor costs” Oct. 2, 2025 (housing counted as compensation; immediate effect). Capital Press

Each in-text bracket like ¹ corresponds to the numbered source here.

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Editor’s Note — Dearborn’s stance

Dearborn Blog is pro-worker, pro-Palestine, pro-planet, and anti-spin. We support living wages, safe housing, and the right to organize—for everyone who grows, packs, ships, cooks, and serves our food. This rule change was sold as modernization. Read the fine print: it cuts pay and leverages housing to do it. That’s not modernization. That’s a shell game.

We’ll keep using precise language and primary sources, because clarity is solidarity. If you’re a worker affected by these changes—or an employer who wants to do right—reach out. Dearborn’s voice is loudest when it’s choirs, not solos.

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Disclaimer

Dearborn Blog is an independent community platform. This article summarizes and cites publicly available regulations, government data, academic and news reporting, and legal analyses. It is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or immigration advice. We strive for accuracy and balance; if you believe we have made an error, contact us and we will review and correct promptly upon verification. References to regulatory impacts reflect cited sources and may be subject to litigation or further rulemaking.

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“You can’t eat without workers. The math should honor that.”

Footnotes

1. Federal Register ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
2. fb.org ↩ ↩²
3. Fisher Phillips ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
4. DOL ↩ ↩²
5. fb.org ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
6. michiganfarmnews.com ↩ ↩²
7. Economic Policy Institute ↩ ↩²
8. Dtnpf ↩ ↩²
9. Economic Research Service ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
10. DOL ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
11. Cal DIR ↩ ↩²
12. San Francisco Chronicle ↩
13. agworkforce.cals.cornell.edu ↩
14. Reuters ↩ ↩²
15. Federal Register ↩ ↩²
16. Economic Policy Institute ↩
17. DOL ↩ ↩² ↩³
18. DOL ↩ ↩²
19. farmdoc daily ↩ ↩²
20. fb.org ↩ ↩²
21. Government Accountability Office ↩
22. CalMatters ↩ ↩²
23. Davis Vanguard ↩
24. JURIST ↩
25. CalMatters ↩
26. Civil Eats ↩
27. Economic Policy Institute ↩
28. Northwestern Now+1 ↩ ↩²
29. Economic Policy Institute ↩
30. DOL ↩
31. California Employers Association ↩