U.S. Department of Labor Freezes Wages of 200K Farmworkers Until 2023

In April, the White House started considering how to help U.S. farmers who were struggling in the pandemic.One of their suggestions was "reforming" the H-2A program.And it turns out that's a euphemistic way of describing cutting the wages of 200,000 foreign-born workers.Fast forward seven months and the Department of Labor has run with that suggestion and finalized the new rules.This change will allow their employers to hang on to an estimated $170 million that would have otherwise gone to workers.It has been noted that President-elect Joe Biden could un-freeze the workers' wages.But it could take as long as another year to undo the current administration's policy changes.