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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 228 / Wednesday, December 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules
wages are applicable to work occurring between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022.
The FY 2020 and FY 2021 certification data includes work occurring as early as October of 2019. To determine the appropriate weighted average hourly wage for these six occupations between October of 2019 and the start of the OEWS May 2020 period, July 1, 2021, the Department estimated the weighted average hourly wage for OEWS May 2018 and OEWS May 2019 datasets.
Using public OEWS survey data, the Department calculated the average annual percent change for wages in these six SOC codes between OEWS
May 2018 and OEWS May 2019 and between OEWS May 2019 and OEWS
May 2020. To determine the weighted average hourly wage for the six SOC
codes in OEWS May 2019, the Department used the percentage growth in the wages to adjust the BLS weighted average hourly wage.90
The Department calculated the impact on wages that would occur from the implementation of the revised AEWR
methodology. For each H2A
certification in FY 2020 through FY

2021, the Department calculated total wages under the current AEWR
baseline, i.e., pursuant to the 2010 Final Rule, and total wages under the proposed AEWR methodology. Then, the Department determined the annual wage impact in calendar year CY 2020
and CY 2021 by subtracting the AEWR
baseline wage from the NPRM wage.
The Department summed the wage impacts in each CY, converted the wage impact to 2020 dollars using the Employment Cost Index ECI 91 and took the average impact of CY 2020 and CY 2021.92 Wage impacts for 2022 to 2031 were estimated by applying the H
2A workers growth rate 5.6 percent to account for that fact that the number of H2A workers affected and the total wage impact will grow annually at 5.6
percent. Because the proposed rule wage-setting methodology would not retroactively impact workers and OEWS
wages in the May 2021 OEWS will not be applicable until July of 2022, the wage impact in 2022 is divided by 2 to account for the fact that only half the year of wages would be impacted.93

The Department provides two examples illustrating the above wage calculation methodology for H2A
certifications. Exhibits 5 and 6 illustrate how total wages are calculated for the proposed rule and baseline. The Department multiplied the number of certified workers by the number of hours worked each day, the number of days in a year that the employees worked, and the annual average hourly gross State AEWR wage for SOC codes set by the AEWR. In the example provided in Exhibit 5, for agricultural equipment operators SOC 452092, Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse the FLS
AEWR wage is not available in Alaska and Puerto Rico, so the AEWR is set by the weighted average OEWS wage. For SOC codes set by the OEWS survey, the annual average hourly gross wage from the state-level OEWS-based wage for the appropriate SOC code and worksite state is used, or the national OEWSbased wage is used if the State-level wage is not available.

EXHIBIT 5AEWR WAGE UNDER THE PROPOSED RULE
Example case NPRM
SOC code Wage source
452092
131074

Number of certified workers
Basic number of hours
Number of days worked in 2020

Number of days worked in 2021

Wage 2020

Wage 2021

Total AEWR
wages 2020

Total AEWR
wages 2021

a
b
c
d
e
f
ab/5ce
ab/5df
FLS AEWR unavailable; weighted average OEWS.
OEWS

After the total wages for the proposed rule were determined, the wage calculation under the baseline AEWR
was calculated. The number of workers certified is multiplied by the number of hours worked each day, the number of
14

40

152

10

$15.15

$16.78

$257,913.60

$18,793.60

10

35

280

50

25.45

29.84

498,820.00

104,440.00

days in a year that the employees worked, and the AEWR baseline for the years in which the work occurred Exhibit 6 provides an example of the calculation of the AEWR baseline for the same case as in Exhibit 5. In the
example provided in Exhibit 6 for SOC
code 452092, the AEWR baseline wage is not available, so the baseline wage is set by the public OEWS State wage.

EXHIBIT 6AEWR WAGE UNDER THE BASELINE
Example case
SOC code
452092

lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1

131074

Baseline wage source
Basic number of hours
Number of days worked in 2020

Number of days worked in 2021

Wage 2020

Wage 2021

Total AEWR
wages 2020

Total AEWR
wages 2021

a
b
c
d
e
f
ab/5ce
ab/5df
FLS AEWR unavailable; OEWS
State.
FLS AEWR

90 The Department divided the BLS calculated weighed average hourly wage rate in OEWS May 2020 by 1+ the average percent change. Similarly, the OEWS May 2018 weighted average hourly wage was determined by dividing the OEWS May 2019
weighted average hourly wage by 1+ the average percent change. The Department completed these calculations at the State and national level.

VerDate Sep<11>2014

Number of certified workers
16:56 Nov 30, 2021

Jkt 256001

14

40

152

10

$15.54

$15.72

$264,552.96

$17,606.40

10

35

280

50

14.58

15.37

285,768.00

53,795.00

91 BLS, Employment Cost Index Archived News Releases, https www.bls.gov/bls/news-release/
eci.htm last modified July 30, 2021.
92 While there were working days and therefore wage impacts in CY 2019 and CY 2022 in the FY
2020 and FY 2021 certification data, the Department did not include wage impacts in CY
2019 and CY 2022 in the average annual impact
PO 00000

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Fmt 4702

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calculations because a full CY of work is not captured in the FY 2020 and FY 2021 certification data for CY 2019 and CY 2022.
93 The Department assumes in the economic analysis of the proposed rule that the final rule will not become effective until the second half of the year 2022.

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