DOL’s Employment and Training Administration issued a final rule amending its methodology for determining the hourly Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWRs) for temporary foreign workers in agricultural occupations, other than herding and livestock production in H-2A nonimmigrant status. The H-2A program allows employers to hire nonimmigrant workers who are foreign residents temporarily in the U.S. when there is a labor shortage, as long as such hiring does not adversely affect wages and working conditions for agricultural workers in the U.S. with similar jobs. The AEWR is the wage floor below which those workers would experience an adverse effect on their wages. Modifications to the AEWR determination methodology therefore affect the hourly wages paid to agricultural workers employed in the U.S. The rule became effective on March 30, 2023.