Report: For migrant workers, legal status doesn't mean more pay

Temporary Mexican workers are essential to the U.S. economy, especially in areas such as Arizona that depend on them to work on produce farms, experts say.

Yet these legal migrant workers experience the same wage discrimination as undocumented workers, according to a paper presented Thursday at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

"Just because temporary workers are legally present doesn't mean they will have higher wages than unauthorized workers," said Lauren Apgar, the paper's author. "And both groups are really disadvantaged compared to legal permanent residents."

Arizona ranks sixth in the nation for states employing temporary agricultural workers, with 2,944 certified workers as of the second quarter of federal fiscal 2015. However, only 10 percent of all farm jobs are estimated to be filled through the temporary agriculture program, according to a 2013 Brookings Institute report.

Overall, more than 100,000 Mexicans have temporary visas to work in the U.S, according to reports.

Temporary workers can come to the U.S. on H-2A visas for agriculture jobs and H-2B visas for other low-skilled or seasonal labor. Both visas require an employer to go through a complicated application process. Employers must prove they are unable to hire U.S. workers to fill the jobs.

Western Growers, an association representing family farmers in Arizona, California and Colorado, argue that temporary agriculture workers are crucial to certain areas of Arizona, such as Yuma.

"It's important to understand that the winter vegetable deal, where 90 percent of winter vegetables are produced for the country nationwide, wouldn't happen without the H-2A program," said Jason Resnick, Western Growers vice president and general counsel.

Resnick disagreed with Apgar that temporary workers face wage discrimination or unfair treatment.

"As part of the H-2A contract, the employer has to agree to allow legal services to contact the employees," he said. "They are well-schooled in the fact that they can complain about any issue."

According to Apgar's report, however, temporary workers often are paid a lower rate than promised. If they do not agree to the lower rate, "they will effectively lose their visa and corresponding legal status."

Wages generally average $10 per hour or less.

In recent years, the number of temporary foreign workers has grown, despite criticisms of the program. In 1990, the U.S. issued 6,573 H-2A and H-2B visas to Mexican workers. In 2013, the number had grown to 111,670.

"It's growing leaps and bounds because it is getting harder and harder to find U.S. workers or domestic workers who want to do agricultural work," Resnick said.

Fresh Harvest Inc. is the biggest employer of temporary agriculture workers in California. The fruit-picking company, which currently employs 1,048 of these workers, also has a location in Yuma.

Erika Chavez, H-2A program manager at Fresh Harvest, said the application process is long and expensive. But the company uses the program in order to sustain enough labor during growing seasons.

"It is very complicated, but that is the only legal way to have a labor force," Chavez said.

In Yuma, a significant number of companies are using the H-2A program, she explained. During Arizona's growing season, she estimates, Fresh Harvest brings in at least 3,000 temporary foreign workers, about 10 times more than the company employs in Yuma during the off-season.

In her paper, Apgar, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Indiana University, says temporary foreign workers and undocumented workers earn about 11 percent less than permanent residents.

Apgar analyzed data from the Mexican Migration Project, based out of Princeton University, for her paper. MMP researchers primarily interviewed males older than 16 in Mexico about their experiences working legally or illegally in the U.S.

The findings of the paper suggest that both temporary and undocumented workers are dependent on their employers, who can take advantage of their employees and offer them the lowest possible wage.

"The downside of the guest-worker visa is being tied to the employer," Apgar said. "It hurts the workers' bargaining power and their leveraging power in the relationship."

She suggested that temporary workers should be allowed to switch employers during their visa period.

The study found one significant advantage for temporary agriculture workers over undocumented workers: Employers are required to provide housing.

"This is a form of compensation so that the temporary workers don't have to pay rent on their own, whereas unauthorized workers would," Apgar said.

A major provision in the immigration-reform bill proposed in 2013 would have offered legal status to undocumented farmworkers and created a temporary-worker program to replace the H-2A program.

The agriculture-jobs provision was among the least controversial parts of the Senate bill, which also called for billions more in spending on border security and a path to citizenship for many of the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

The bill passed the Senate with bipartisan support but died in the House, so H-2A remained.

"H-2A is generally a last resort for employers because of the cost and bureaucratic red tape," Resnick said. "The preference is to use domestic workers before having to bring in foreign workers. As long as there is work force available domestically, it will be used."