The H-2A farm guestworker program is expanding rapidly: Here are the numbers you need to know [feedly]

The H-2A farm guestworker program is expanding rapidly: Here are the numbers you need to know
http://www.epi.org/blog/h-2a-farm-guestworker-program-expanding-rapidly/

H-2A visas by the numbers:

• 165,741: Number of H-2A jobs certified in 2016
• 14%: Increase in H-2A jobs since 2015
• 160%: Increase in H-2A jobs since 2006
• 134,368: Number of H-2A visas issued to workers in 2016
• 167: Average number of days H-2A jobs were certified for in 2016
• Approximately half of H-2A jobs in 2016 were certified in 5 states: Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and California
• 7%: Percentage of the crop workforce that H-2A workers represent

The H-2A visa program allows farmers anticipating shortages of U.S. seasonal workers to be certified by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to recruit and employ foreign workers with temporary, nonimmigrant visas. DOL certified 165,700 jobs to be filled by H-2A workers in fiscal 2016, up 14 percent from 145,900 in fiscal 2015.1 The H-2A program in 2016 is two-and-a-half times larger than it was a decade ago in 2006, when 64,100 jobs were certified.Read more

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