```

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 241 (Monday, December 16, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 101630-101631]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-29550]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of 
Foreign Workers in Agriculture in the United States: Adverse Effect 
Wage Rate for Range Occupations

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Employment and Training Administration of the Department 
of Labor (DOL) is issuing this notice to announce updates to the 
Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) for the employment of temporary or 
seasonal nonimmigrant foreign workers (H-2A workers) to perform herding 
or production of livestock on the range. AEWRs are the minimum wage 
rates the DOL has determined must be offered, advertised in 
recruitment, and paid by employers to H-2A workers and workers in 
corresponding employment so that the wages and working conditions of 
workers in the United States (U.S.) similarly employed will not be 
adversely affected. In this notice, DOL announces the annual update of 
the AEWR for workers engaged in the herding or production of livestock 
on the range, as required by the methodology previously established in 
2015.

DATES: The rate is effective January 1, 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Pasternak, Administrator, Office 
of Foreign Labor Certification, Employment and Training Administration, 
U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room N-5311, 
Washington, DC 20210, telephone: (202) 693-8200 (this is not a toll-
free number). For persons with a hearing or speech disability who need 
assistance to use the telephone system, please dial 711 to access 
telecommunications relay services.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 
Services of the Department of Homeland Security will not approve an 
employer's petition for the admission of H-2A nonimmigrant temporary 
and seasonal agricultural workers in the U.S. unless the petitioner has 
received an H-2A labor certification from DOL. DOL issues such labor 
certification when it determines that (1) there are not sufficient U.S. 
workers who are able, willing, and qualified and who will be available 
at the time and place needed to perform the labor or services involved 
in the petition; and (2) the employment of the foreign worker(s) in 
such labor or services will not adversely affect the wages and working 
conditions of workers in the U.S. similarly employed. See 8 U.S.C. 
1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a), 1184(c)(1), and 1188(a); 8 CFR 214.2(h)(5); 20 
CFR 655.100.

Adverse Effect Wage Rate

    DOL's H-2A regulations covering the herding or production of 
livestock on the range, published in the Federal Register as the 
Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A Foreign Workers in the 
Herding or Production of Livestock on the Range in the United States, 
80 FR 62958 (Oct. 16, 2015), provide that employers must offer, 
advertise in recruitment, and pay each worker employed under 20 CFR 
655.200 through 655.235 a wage that is at least the highest of the 
various wage sources listed in Sec.  655.211(a)(1), including the 
monthly AEWR. See 20 CFR 655.210(g). Further, when the monthly AEWR is 
adjusted during a work contract, and is higher than both the agreed-
upon collective bargaining wage and the applicable minimum wage imposed 
by Federal or State law or judicial action in effect at the time the 
work is performed, the employer must pay that adjusted monthly AEWR 
upon publication by DOL in the Federal Register. See 20 CFR 
655.211(a)(2).
    As provided in 20 CFR 655.211(c)(2), the monthly AEWR for range 
occupations in all States for a calendar year is based on the monthly 
AEWR for the previous calendar year ($1,982.96), adjusted by the 
Employment Cost Index (ECI) for wages and salaries published by the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics for the preceding annual period. The 12-
month change in the ECI for wages and salaries of private industry 
workers between September 2023 and September 2024 was 3.8 percent, 
resulting in a monthly AEWR for range occupations in effect for the 
following year of $2,058.31.\1\ The national monthly AEWR rate for all 
range occupations in the H-2A program is calculated by multiplying the

[[Page 101631]]

monthly AEWR for the previous year by the October 2024 ECI adjustment 
($1,982.96 x 1.038 = $2,058.31) or $2,058.31. Accordingly, any employer 
certified or seeking certification for range workers must pay each 
worker a wage that is at least the highest of the various wage sources 
listed in Sec.  655.211(a)(1), including the monthly AEWR of $2,058.31, 
at the time work is performed on or after the effective date of this 
notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ The regulation at 20 CFR 655.211(c)(2) states that the 
monthly AEWR is calculated based on the ECI for wages and salaries 
``for the preceding October-October period.'' This regulatory 
language was intended to identify the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 
(BLS) October publication of ECI for wages and salaries, which 
presents data for the September to September period. Accordingly, 
the most recent 12-month change in the ECI for private sector 
workers published on October 31, 2024, by BLS was used for 
establishing the monthly AEWR under the regulations. See https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/eci_10312024.pdf. The ECI for 
private sector workers was used rather than the ECI for all civilian 
workers given the characteristics of the H-2A herder workforce.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Authority: 20 CFR 655.211(b).

Jos[eacute] Javier Rodr[iacute]guez,
Assistant Secretary Employment and Training, Labor.
[FR Doc. 2024-29550 Filed 12-11-24; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4510-FP-P
```