By Richard Stup, Cornell University 

The 2024 Becker Forum was hosted by New York State Vegetable Growers Association on Monday, January 22, 2024. At the event, recent changes to the H-2A program were discussed in detail, including from U.S. Department of Labor’s senior H-2A administrator, Mr. Brian Pasternak. Mr. Pasternak shared incredibly important information with the audience, and I want to revisit a few key points here.

Much of this message is good news, especially the fact that most H-2A jobs will still fit into the traditional AEWR pay rates. However, employers must carefully describe jobs by using the task language from O*NET as detailed later in this message. Note that everything presented here is for education purposes only and is not legal opinion.  Click on the link (in italics) to go to the full post in the Ag Workforce Journal H-2A Wage Rates & SOC Codes Explained.