H-2A & H-2B tracker
The seasonal-worker record, from the filings.
Who sponsors seasonal and temporary work under H-2A (agricultural) and H-2B (non-agricultural), how many workers the Department of Labor certified, where the work is — and how much of it flows through labor contractors. Read from DOL's own certification disclosure files, stated as the record states it.
The two programs, side by side
A certified application is DOL's determination on the labor-market test — authorization to recruit, not workers hired. Worker figures are the certification ceilings DOL approved, totaled and labeled as exactly that.
20,180
certified applications
of 20,638 decided applications on file
349,867
workers certified
of 350,170 requested — DOL's ceiling, not hires
14,808
employers certified
distinct employers, exact-name grain
$15.48/hr
median offered rate
hourly filings, low end of the offered range, as filed
12,513
certified applications
of 17,078 decided applications on file
206,650
workers certified
of 207,395 requested — DOL's ceiling, not hires
7,860
employers certified
distinct employers, exact-name grain
$18.92/hr
median offered rate
hourly filings, low end of the offered range, as filed
Intent vs. outcome — two agencies, two stages
Two records sit here side by side, and they measure different things. The Department of Labor certification is intent — permission to recruit up to a worker ceiling, decided this fiscal year. The USCIS petition approval is the outcome — workers approved after employers actually petitioned, a separate adjudication by a separate agency. We show each with its own fiscal-year label and never divide one by the other: their years differ (the USCIS hub is archived at FY2023; certifications are the current year), their units differ (a recruitment ceiling is not an adjudicated worker count), and a quotient of the two would be a “conversion rate” the records cannot support.
H-2A · temporary agricultural work
Intent · DOL certification · FY2026
349,867
workers DOL certified for recruitment — permission to recruit up to this ceiling, this fiscal year.
Outcome · USCIS approvals · FY2015–FY2023
178,433 workers on petitions USCIS approved in FY2023 — the newest year the archived hub publishes.
H-2B · temporary non-agricultural work
Intent · DOL certification · FY2026
206,650
workers DOL certified for recruitment — permission to recruit up to this ceiling, this fiscal year.
Outcome · USCIS approvals · FY2015–FY2023
130,521 workers on petitions USCIS approved in FY2023 — the newest year the archived hub publishes.
Sources: DOL/OFLC certification disclosures (intent) and the USCIS H-2A/H-2B Employer Data Hub (outcome, archived FY2015–FY2023). Worker counts are DOL's certified ceiling and USCIS's approved workers respectively — neither is workers hired or visas issued.
The largest certified employers, by worker ceiling
H-2A
| # | Employer | Certified apps | Workers certified |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Carolina Grower's Association, Inc. | 148 | 9,584 |
| 2 | WAFLA | 35 | 4,951 |
| 3 | Fresh Harvest, Inc.labor contractor | 43 | 4,914 |
| 4 | Peri & Sons Farms, Inc. | 37 | 2,521 |
| 5 | Zirkle Fruit Company | 4 | 2,368 |
| 6 | Royal Oak Ag Services, Inc.labor contractor | 19 | 2,270 |
| 7 | V. Valencia Harvesting, Inc.labor contractor | 15 | 2,216 |
| 8 | Manzana LLClabor contractor | 52 | 2,213 |
| 9 | McDougall Family Farming Inc | 3 | 2,131 |
| 10 | R & R HARVESTING, INClabor contractor | 16 | 2,087 |
| 11 | Ag Labor LLClabor contractor | 7 | 1,979 |
| 12 | Del Norte Harvesting, LLClabor contractor | 117 | 1,939 |
| 13 | WASHINGTON FRUIT ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES II, INC | 4 | 1,868 |
| 14 | Stemilt Ag Services, LLC | 2 | 1,691 |
| 15 | GRACIA & SONS, LLClabor contractor | 19 | 1,652 |
H-2B
| # | Employer | Certified apps | Workers certified |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Landscape Workshop, LLC | 63 | 2,983 |
| 2 | Genuine Builders Inc. | 77 | 1,194 |
| 3 | Progressive Solutions LLC | 12 | 1,173 |
| 4 | Triple H Services, LLC | 10 | 1,069 |
| 5 | Rotolo Consultants, Inc. | 14 | 956 |
| 6 | Ruppert Landscape, LLC | 31 | 833 |
| 7 | Silver Bay Seafoods, LLC | 2 | 800 |
| 8 | Bland Landscaping Co., Inc. | 18 | 772 |
| 9 | Ray Cammack Shows, Inc | 2 | 700 |
| 10 | DHC MI Holdings LLC | 24 | 695 |
| 11 | Heaven and Earth Landscaping, LLC | 7 | 629 |
| 12 | MasterCorp Inc | 20 | 616 |
| 13 | Yellowstone Landscape - Central, Inc. | 7 | 581 |
| 14 | Superior Golf Maintenance, LLC | 2 | 500 |
| 15 | Tribal Casino Gaming Enterprise | 7 | 488 |
Exact legal-name grain — an employer filing under several spellings appears several times rather than being fuzzily merged. Associations and labor contractors file on behalf of many worksites, which is why they lead this table; the contractor layer below reads that structure directly.
The contractor layer
The H-2A file records whether each application was filed by an H-2A labor contractor — an intermediary certified to supply workers to farms — rather than by the farm itself. In FY2026 so far, 148,059 of 349,867 certified workers — 42% — sit on contractor filings, on just 15% of certified applications.
42%
of certified H-2A workers
are on labor-contractor filings
3,115
contractor applications certified
beside 17,065 direct filings
148,059
workers certified via contractors
the ceiling DOL approved, not hires
Where contractor demand concentrates
The same split by worksite state, for the states with the most certified H-2A activity — the share of the state's certified workers on contractor filings varies widely, and that variation is the read.
| Worksite state | Contractor apps | Direct apps | Contractor share of workers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 194 | 1,312 | 42% |
| North Dakota | 38 | 1,415 | 7% |
| Louisiana | 18 | 1,313 | 11% |
| Arkansas | 30 | 902 | 9% |
| Kentucky | 16 | 840 | 7% |
| California | 380 | 401 | 74% |
| Idaho | 30 | 724 | 7% |
| Georgia | 314 | 418 | 74% |
| Florida | 398 | 303 | 77% |
| Montana | 20 | 654 | 13% |
Share is of the state's flagged certified workers (contractor ÷ contractor + direct). A labor-contractor filing is a filing method the H-2A file records — not a judgment.
The largest H-2A labor contractors on record
| # | Contractor | Certified apps | Workers certified | Worksite states |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fresh Harvest, Inc. | 43 | 4,914 | 3 |
| 2 | Royal Oak Ag Services, Inc. | 19 | 2,270 | 1 |
| 3 | V. Valencia Harvesting, Inc. | 15 | 2,216 | 7 |
| 4 | Manzana LLC | 52 | 2,213 | 7 |
| 5 | R & R HARVESTING, INC | 16 | 2,087 | 6 |
| 6 | Ag Labor LLC | 7 | 1,979 | 1 |
| 7 | Del Norte Harvesting, LLC | 117 | 1,939 | 15 |
| 8 | GRACIA & SONS, LLC | 19 | 1,652 | 4 |
| 9 | AgriLabor, Inc. | 13 | 1,508 | 3 |
| 10 | D & K Harvesting Inc | 16 | 1,471 | 9 |
An application is not a worker hired — workers certified is the ceiling DOL approved, and recruitment can fall short of it. The H-2B disclosure file carries no contractor flag, so this read is H-2A only.
Where the certified work is
H-2A
| Worksite state | Certified apps | Workers certified |
|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 732 | 39,586 |
| Florida | 701 | 35,193 |
| Washington | 265 | 33,228 |
| California | 781 | 31,467 |
| North Carolina | 587 | 25,704 |
| Texas | 1,506 | 15,278 |
| Michigan | 526 | 14,694 |
| Louisiana | 1,331 | 11,965 |
| New York | 640 | 8,865 |
| Arkansas | 932 | 7,688 |
H-2B
| Worksite state | Certified apps | Workers certified |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | 983 | 20,359 |
| Florida | 516 | 12,544 |
| North Carolina | 495 | 10,345 |
| Ohio | 678 | 8,421 |
| Colorado | 349 | 8,330 |
| Pennsylvania | 655 | 7,825 |
| Michigan | 609 | 7,795 |
| New York | 804 | 7,791 |
| South Carolina | 350 | 7,377 |
| Missouri | 417 | 6,915 |
Ranked by certified worker ceiling; state links open the same state's layoff record — both filings, one employer landscape.
The work being certified
Occupations as coded on the filings (SOC), ranked by the certified worker ceiling — the titles are the Department of Labor's, not ours.
H-2A
| Occupation (SOC) | Certified apps | Workers certified |
|---|---|---|
| Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse | 9,578 | 284,769 |
| Agricultural Equipment Operators | 5,804 | 36,786 |
| Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals | 3,525 | 18,519 |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 264 | 2,400 |
| Construction Laborers | 152 | 1,961 |
| Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products | 66 | 906 |
| Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs | 139 | 626 |
| Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians | 197 | 528 |
H-2B
| Occupation (SOC) | Certified apps | Workers certified |
|---|---|---|
| Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers | 5,165 | 97,237 |
| Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 822 | 13,469 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | 336 | 9,203 |
| Construction Laborers | 559 | 8,042 |
| Cooks, Restaurant | 795 | 7,924 |
| Forest and Conservation Workers | 136 | 6,913 |
| Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers | 163 | 5,499 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 250 | 5,432 |
Questions, answered honestly
What are the H-2A and H-2B programs?
H-2A admits workers for temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs; H-2B covers temporary non-agricultural work — landscaping, seafood processing, hospitality, forestry, fairs. Before an employer can petition USCIS for either visa, the U.S. Department of Labor must certify the job: that able and willing U.S. workers are not available, and that the offered terms meet program standards. This page reads DOL's own certification disclosure files — the labor-certification step, not visas issued.
Does one certified application equal one worker hired?
No, twice over. One application can cover many positions, and its workers-certified figure is a ceiling — DOL's authorization to recruit up to that many workers, not a count of people hired or visas issued. USCIS petition approval and State Department visa issuance are separate downstream steps, and recruitment can fall short of the ceiling. We total the ceilings and label them exactly that.
Why are wages shown as hourly rates, never annual salaries?
Because the work is seasonal. Each filing offers a pay rate with its unit — almost always per hour — for an employment window that rarely spans a year. Annualizing an hourly rate would print a salary for a year the job does not cover; that number would be our invention, not the record's. We show the rate as filed, with its unit, and never annualize it.
For researchers & newsrooms
The corpora behind this page — seasonal-work certifications alongside wages, enforcement, and layoffs — are queryable through the Footnote Data API, licensed CC BY 4.0. Free tier to explore. The employment-visa record continues on the H-1B tracker.