The Obama Administration’s Reshaping of the H-2B Program

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor unveiled new regulations to reshape the H-2B guest worker programs in work other than agriculture, which officials said would strengthen protections for those workers and also spur recruitment of Americans for such jobs. The new regulations, which are slated to go into effect on April 23, make important changes in the H-2B guest worker program. Click here to see a comparison between the new and the old regulations.

The changes were hailed by advocates for guest workers, who said they would make it more difficult for businesses to exploit guest workers. Employers complained that the new rules would make the process too slow and cumbersome for their seasonal businesses. For Julia Preston’s take on the new rules in the New York Times, click here.

KJ