The USDA’s latest Farm Labor Report reveals that the national wage rate for field and livestock workers is now $18.12 an hour, a +3.2% increase from last year. According to Samantha Ayoub, Farm Bureau Associate Economist, “no one realistically pays the national wage, so regionally, there was an average about a +4.5% increase in regional wages.”
The Farm Labor Survey (FLS) reports wage data twice a year, which is collected through voluntary farm surveys in every state expect Alaska. These surveys collect employment and wage data for 1 week each quarter – in January, April, July and October. The latest Farm Labor Report uses October 6-12, 2024 as the reference week.
Based on the data, farm operators paid their hired workers an average gross wage of $19.11 per hour during the October 2024 reference week, up +2% from the October 2023 reference week. It’s also up from an average gross wage of $18.95 per hour during the July 7-13, 2024 reference week.
The 2024 all hired worker annual average gross wage rate was $19.10 per hour, up +3% from the 2023 annual average gross wage rate. The 2024 field worker annual average gross wage rate was $18.42 per hour, up +3% from the 2023 annual average. The 2024 livestock worker annual average gross wage rate was $17.45 per hour.
Ayoub notes that wage rates differed dramatically across the country, ranging from $14.83 in the Delta region – Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas – to $20.08 in Hawaii. “There was actually a decrease in the Lake Region–Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan–down two percent to $18.15, but then we have places like the Southeast– Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina–with nearly +10% increases,” Ayoub said during a recent “Newsline” podcast. “California is finally not the highest paying state in the country. They’ve been surpassed by Hawaii at $20.08, up +7.2% from 2023.”
The Farm Labor Survey’s combined field and livestock worker wage ($18.12 in 2024) is used to set the minimum wage for most H-2A workers—temporary agricultural employees from abroad—through the Adverse Effect Wage Rate. Ayoub explains that the wage is used for six different standard occupation codes, comprising some 96% of H-2A workers. The new wages become official when DOL publishes them in the Federal Register in December. Ayoub says the rate is, in essence, copy and pasted from the Farm Labor Survey.
Based on the final 2024 FLS numbers, Ayoub estimates that eleven of the 15 regions will see an increase in wages larger than the national growth rate in 2025. The Southeast – South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama – and Florida can expect a +10% increase in 2025, over $1.40 more per hour. In comparison, nonfarm wages rose only +4% from October 2023 to 2024. Ayoub also notes that Florida began raising its state minimum wage +$1 per hour each year in 2020 until it reaches $15 per hour in 2026, which may be contributing to spikes in farm wages.
Ag producers should also note that the timeline to implement new 2025 wages will vary depending on where they are located. New rules for implementing H-2A wages and a recent ruling by a U.S. District Court will cause more than half of workers to immediately receive pay increases in December when the final 2025 AEWR numbers are released.
Seventeen states – Georgia, Kansas, South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia – sued DOL over the rulemaking, and as of August 26, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia granted a temporary halt of the rule in the filing states. Rather than pausing implementation of the rules across the country, DOL now has different requirements for employers in just those 17 states. Ayoub goes into detail about the new rules and other aspects of H2A wages HERE. (Sources: USDA, Farm Bureau)
