Adverse Effect Wage Rates likely will go up across the nation next year if federal labor officials follow their standard practice.

In all regions, average gross wages reported in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual Farm Labor Survey increased in 2022. 

The U.S. Department of Labor typically uses those reported wages to set the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, or AEWR, a regionalized minimum wage for H-2A workers. If it does so again, fruit-growing states would see the following AEWR increases in 2023:

—Washington and Oregon: 3.2 percent, from $17.41 to $17.97.

—California: 6.5 percent, from $17.51 to $18.65.

—Michigan: 12.8 percent, from $15.37 to $17.34.

—New York: 8.2 percent, from $15.66 to $16.95.

—Pennsylvania: 6.5 percent, from $15.54 to $16.55.

—by Ross Courtney