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H-2B by the numbers
1 Aug, 2006 By: Stephanie Ricca Landscape ManagementEvery employer using the h-2b guest worker visa program has a story.
Maybe it's about the cost and labor involved with getting people here. Maybe it's about the problems, the benefits or other business-related issues.
Numbers tell a story, too. The data presented here were collected during 2004 about all employers requesting H-2B guest workers.* It's the most complete record presently available from the U.S. Department of Labor.
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Take wage statistics for example. Around the country, most H-2B workers made $7/hour in 2004, but some made a lot more, others less.
The story behind these numbers is still the same today, only with even more volume. The cap in 2004 was 66,000 workers, but the difference today is that returning workers can come back with an H-2R visa and not count against the cap — at least until Sept. 30 when the two-year law allowing returning workers expires.
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We will continue to share more statistics from this data in upcoming issues.
Take a look and see the bigger picture of H-2B.
How they stack up
Other industry segments don't even come close. Here's how other major groups compare.
WHO MADE THE LEAST
2,740 employers paid their Green Industry workers an hourly wage. While most organized labor groups require employers to at least match prevailing wage, that's not always the case. The lowest-paid landscape laborers in 2004 made $5.72/hour compared to the state's prevailing rate of $6.02.
Wonder where it was?
Ponchatoula, LA.
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WHO MADE THE MOST
On the flip side, some landscape laborers in New Roche, NY, made almost $18/hour, higher than the prevailing wage of $15.25 in their area.
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* METHODS
Landscape Management thanks Robert Wingfield, president of Amigos Inc., for sharing raw H-2B data he requested and paid for via the Freedom of Information Act from the U.S. Department of Labor in 2005. Editors then analyzed the data to determine occupational breakdowns, regional breakdowns, averages and other trends. Contact Stephanie Ricca at sricca@questex.com for more information or visit www.dol.gov/dol/foia/.
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