Source:  UC DAVIS RURAL MIGRATION NEWS, October 2021

DOL received 14,300 H-2A applications requesting certification to fill 257,500 jobs with H-2A workers in the first three quarters of FY21; DOL’s OFLC certified 248,000 jobs or 97 percent of these job requests for H-2A workers. In the first three quarters of FY20, DOL received 12,355 applications to certify 198, 800 jobs, and certified 190,400 jobs or 97 percent.

During the first three quarters of FY21, Florida accounted for 12 percent of H-2A certifications; Georgia 11 percent; California and Washington 10 percent each; and North Carolina, eight percent. DOL is expected to certify over 300,000 jobs to be filled with H-2A workers in FY21.

S 2443, introduced in July 2021, would allow H-2A workers to be employed in year-round farm jobs and expand the definition of agricultural labor to allow H-2A workers to be employed in agricultural jobs as defined in the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC 45-1000) and seafood processing (including jobs on sea-going vessels), installation and maintenance of horticultural commodities, landscaping, and horse breeding.

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