Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWR)

WAMS does not change rates in the middle of a pay period. What you do next depends on who is on the payroll.

• No H-2A employees right now. Change the rate now so it's ready for workers arriving on your next contract.
• Contract not yet started. Keep paying the current rate until payroll includes work dates on or after the new effective date.
• Employees already being paid for a work week that spans the new effective date — pick one of the options below.

Option 2 is simpler, but some states may require Option 1. If the contract includes piece-rate work, confirm the piece-rate build-up still clears the new hourly floor.

To receive the latest AEWR figures, make sure your WAMS software is updated to the latest version. Perform these steps before the first payroll after the effective date for each WAMS company that employs H-2A workers.

1. Update WAMS to the latest version. WAMS checks your rates against the current published AEWR and reminds you when an update is due.
2. Open your company.
3. If you're splitting your check, create a payroll for work before the rate change date. You will not need to update your contract rates.
4. If you want to pay the higher rate, Open the H-2A Contracts screen and change the H-2A and Domestic rates for any applicable contracts to the higher rate.
5. Check employee rates and minimum rates (in circumstance where they are necessary), and update if needed.
6. Check job rates and minimum rates, and update these if needed.

Note: Employee rates can be batch edited to change the rates in a single operation. If you need assistance performing this batch edit, contact us for assistance!

What the AEWR is

The H-2A program lets U.S. employers hire temporary foreign workers for seasonal farm jobs when there aren't enough domestic workers available to fill them. To protect American workers from wage competition, the Department of Labor requires H-2A employers — and any domestic workers performing the same jobs alongside them — to be paid a minimum hourly wage called the adverse effect wage rate. The name describes the purpose: bringing in foreign labor should not adversely affect the wages of U.S. workers doing the same work.

Before Oct 2, 2025 — the FLS method

For many years the AEWR was set using data from the USDA Farm Labor Survey, an annual survey of agricultural employers reporting what they paid their farm workers. DOL used those reported wages to publish a single minimum hourly rate for each state. Regardless of the specific type of agricultural work being performed — planting, hand-harvesting, operating equipment, supervising — every H-2A worker in a given state was subject to that same flat rate. These rates still apply to contracts whose job orders were filed before Oct 2, 2025.

On or after Oct 2, 2025 — the OEWS method

For job orders filed on or after Oct 2, 2025, DOL switched to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. OEWS is a far larger and more comprehensive survey covering hundreds of occupations across all industries. The critical difference is that OEWS rates are occupation-specific: instead of one flat rate per state, there is now a different minimum rate depending on the type of work being performed, identified by Standard Occupational Classification code.

In practice, crop workers (SOC 45-2092) may carry a different AEWR than agricultural equipment operators (SOC 45-2091) or first-line supervisors of farming workers (SOC 45-1011). OEWS-based rates are generally higher than the prior FLS rates, and because they vary by both state and occupation, it matters that employers correctly identify the SOC code that best matches the actual duties their H-2A workers perform.

Current status

Status as of Aug 3, 2026: the interim final rule establishing the OEWS method and the housing adjustment remains in effect. Update this paragraph whenever the litigation or rulemaking position changes.