Capital Press reported on November 13, 2017: The U.S. Department of Labor approved 200,049 H-2A-visa foreign guestworkers for U.S. farms in fiscal year 2017, up 20.7 percent from 165,741 in 2016.
Quoting Frank Gasperini Jr., executive vice president of the National Council for Agricultural Employers in Washington, D.C., the report stated: “H-2A workers are about 10 percent of the nation’s more than 2 million seasonal ag workers, he said. That’s more than doubled in the last five years, he said. Year-round or permanent ag worker are about another 500,000, he said.”
Washington state has seen a significant growth in guest workers: The latest DOL numbers show Florida leading in 2017 H-2A workers at 25,303, up 12.6 percent. Georgia is second at 23,421, up 11.7 percent. North Carolina is third at 20,713, up 10.4 percent.
Washington is fourth at 18,535, up 9.3 percent. California is fifth at 15,232, up 7.6 percent. After that, Louisiana, Kentucky, New York, Michigan and Arizona round out the top 10 states.
“Florida, Washington and Michigan see higher growth because whole crops are starting to shift in a big way to H-2A because of lesser migrant movement,” Gasperini said.