Page 16 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Second Quarter 2022

BY BRANDON DAVIS
Keeping It Moving During the
GREAT RESIGNATION:
Understanding the Potential Impact of the
DOL’s Proposed Final Rule for Guest Labor Wage Increase
THIS IS A WARNING CALL TO EMPLOYERS IN THE FORESTRY INDUSTRY.
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently proposed
a rule that would apply higher H-2B wages to certain agricultural occupations like
trucking, construction, and supervisory occupations. The DOL believes H-2A workers in those occupations are not adequately compensated using the current method for setting H-2A wages. Although the forestry industry traditionally
relies on foreign laborers who are hired seasonally through the (non-agricultural) H-2B program, the proposed H-2A wage increase could still impact labor supply in the forestry industry. Changes to the H-2A wage methodology will likely affect the labor supply available to forestry stakeholders who rely on seasonal H-2B laborers.
Unlike the H-2B program, the H-2A program is not subject to a statutory
cap on the number of foreign workers who may be admitted to work (currently 66,000 annually). Thus, H-2B workers in the forestry industry could look to switch jobs in the agricultural industry without fear of visa caps. If the DOL’s proposed rule goes into effect, it could incentivize forestry workers to make this switch.
For example, why would a worker drive
a truck for a forestry employer and worry each year about not being admitted because of the visa cap? Wouldn’t a returning worker instead consider a broader range of higher- paying jobs that may become available if H-2B wages are made applicable to forestry- similar occupations like trucking?
In sum, if the DOL’s proposed rule
goes into effect, forestry employers should brace for increased labor supply constraints as certain H-2B laborers look elsewhere
for higher wages. The proposed final rule
800 occupations. The industries with the highest levels of employment in the Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers [SOC 53-3032] category include Truck Transportation, Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods, Warehousing
and Storage, Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing, and Merchant Wholesalers. The DOL proposes using H-2B wages when the agricultural occupational code, All Other Workers (SOC 45-2099), is at play in Applications
“The bottom line is that the DOL’s proposal would cause a very limited number of H-2A occupations to be paid wages akin to those that H-2B workers earn while performing broadly similar duties.”
14 ncforestry.org / SECOND QUARTER 2022
cannot be understood in a vacuum limited to agricultural employers. It may have an impact across both guest labor programs, especially in the forestry industry that is so closely related to agriculture.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program collects data on wage and salary workers in non-
farm establishments in order to produce employment and wage estimates for about
for Temporary Labor Certification.
Wages in that category would go from approximately $12.00 per hour (in
many states) in the agricultural context
to approximately $24.00 per hour (in
many states) in the H-2B context. That massive increase in wages would impact ancillary agricultural occupations, like transportation, as well as the guest laborers who currently staff those jobs through the H-2B program.