US labor department tightens rules for foreign worker wages, ending a loophole

The US Labor Department is changing how employers calculate wages for temporary foreign workers in the H-2B program. This means companies hiring these workers will have to use more specific and often higher wage data, making it harder to pay less than local workers.

For years, some employers used a loophole in the H-2B visa program to pay temporary foreign workers less than the prevailing wage, often by using their own surveys. This proposed rule aims to close that loophole. It means companies will have to pay these workers more, which could make hiring foreign labor more expensive and less attractive for some industries.