Program Insight • August 2026
America’s seasonal employers are running out of workers, not out of options.
Ask a grower in the Central Valley, a hotel GM on the Outer Banks, a golf course superintendent in Michigan, or a seafood processor on the Eastern Shore what keeps them up at night. You will hear a version of the same answer: the work is there, the season is coming, and the people are not.
That is not a story about effort. It is a story about math. And in 2026, the math moved.
Below is a plain-English look at what these programs actually are, what the newest federal data and rules say, and what employers should be doing right now to protect next season. No spin. Just the record, and what it means for your business.
What Are the H-2A and H-2B Programs?
Both are federal, employer-driven, temporary work visa programs. Both require the employer to prove the need is temporary and to test the U.S. labor market first. Neither is a shortcut around American workers. The entire structure is built to protect them.
| H-2A | H-2B | |
| Type of work | Agricultural | Non-agricultural |
| Typical industries | Row crops, orchards, vineyards, nurseries, greenhouses, livestock, packing | Hospitality, golf & turf, landscaping, seafood, commercial cleaning, construction, amusement, forestry |
| Annual visa cap | None | 66,000 statutory (33,000 per half-year) |
| Nature of need | Seasonal or temporary | Seasonal, peakload, intermittent, or one-time occurrence |
| Housing | Employer must provide housing to non-local workers | Not required |
| Wage floor | Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), or the highest applicable rate | Prevailing wage determination |
Every employer using either program appears in public U.S. Department of Labor disclosure data. That transparency is a feature, not a bug.
The Data: Demand Is Not Softening. It Is Accelerating.
H-2A is a structural pillar of American agriculture, not a stopgap.
Certified H-2A positions reached 398,258 in fiscal year 2025, up from 378,513 the year before, according to DOL Office of Foreign Labor Certification statistics. The program has grown more than 25 percent in five years, and fiscal year 2026 is running well ahead of that pace.
The reason is not preference. It is availability. In fiscal year 2025, only 182 positions out of more than 415,000 advertised, less than 0.04 percent, received a domestic applicant!
Growers are not choosing guest workers over American workers. They are filling jobs no one applied for.
H-2B demand routinely runs several times the number of visas available.
During the January 2026 filing period, DOL published assignment groups covering 10,062 applications requesting 162,603 positions with an April 1, 2026, start date. That is a sharp jump from the prior year, when the same window produced 8,759 applications covering 149,953 positions. The semiannual allocation available to meet that demand was 33,000 visas.
Source: DOL Office of Foreign Labor Certification assignment group data, January 5, 2026.
The employers who staff a successful season start the conversation early.
What Changed in 2026, and Why It Matters to Your Balance Sheet
1. H-2A wages are being rebuilt, and the outcome is still being written.
For decades, Adverse Effect Wage Rates were set from USDA’s Farm Labor Survey. DOL’s interim final rule published October 2 replaced it with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey as the sole source of wage data for non-range agricultural occupations.
Updated rates were published effective August 3, 2026, with a two-week delay to August 17 for states covered by the Kansas v. DOL order.
On August 26, 2026, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled that interim final rule unlawful. DOL has been directed to develop a new methodology consistent with the court’s Order and to publish new Adverse Effect Wage Rates under it.
What is not yet knowable: the methodology DOL will adopt, the rates it will produce, and the timeline on which it will act. Anyone telling you otherwise is guessing.
This is the environment where a partner earns their keep. Your wage obligation now depends on state, occupation code, and skill level, and the framework producing those numbers is actively changing.
2. Congress is weighing the first statutory H-2A reform in 40 years.
On June 30, 2026, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson introduced H.R. 9535, the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026. Among its provisions, the bill would remove the “seasonal” restriction and refocus eligibility on the temporary nature of the job contract, opening the program to year-round sectors such as dairy that have historically been shut out. It carries 41 cosponsors and the backing of more than 400 agricultural organizations.
másLabor endorses SAWA. It is the permanent, legislative solution this industry has needed for four decades, and the August ruling is a clear demonstration of why. SAWA is a bill, not a law. It may change substantially or fail entirely.
| — | You must recruit U.S. workers first, document it, and hire any qualified U.S. applicant. |
| — | You must pay the required wage floor to guest workers and to U.S. workers in corresponding employment. |
| — | H-2A employers must provide housing to non-local workers and cover inbound and outbound travel and visa costs. |
| — | You must prove the need is genuinely temporary. A permanent, year-round need does not qualify. |
| — | You will be in the public record. Every certification is disclosed by DOL. |
The Timeline Is the Strategy
The employers who successfully staff their season are the ones who started early.
| H-2B | The semiannual cap is routinely exhausted within days. If you want workers on site for spring 2027, scope the need and prepare wage and recruitment materials now. |
| H-2A | Plan backward from your date of need. Job orders go to the State Workforce Agency well before the first day of work, and housing must be inspected and approved before workers arrive. Spring 2027 planting and greenhouse needs are a right now conversation. |
| One-Time Occurrence |
Challenging, and highly scrutinized. If you have a defined project with a defined end date, it is worth a conversation. |
Where másLabor Fits
másLabor was established in 2003 by Libby Whitley, who spent two decades in Washington, D.C. advocating for agricultural and seasonal employers. That advocacy is still the core of what we do. Today másLabor obtains labor certifications for more than 70,000 foreign workers per year, more than the next three service providers combined.
We scope your need, determine whether H-2A, H-2B, or another program actually fits, build the filing correctly the first time, interface with every state and federal agency involved, and stay with you through your ongoing compliance obligations. When the rules move, as they did in August, you hear it from us first.
From enrollment to arrival.
We build the legal pathway that gets your business staffed, on time, in full compliance with federal law.
This article is provided for general informational purposes and reflects federal program requirements as of August 2026. Program rules, wage rates, and cap allocations change. It is not legal advice. Employers should confirm current requirements with másLabor or qualified counsel before filing.
