Washington state recruited a total of 11 U.S. farmworkers this year for more than 30,000 jobs.

The Washington Employment Security Department placed 11 U.S. workers to help fill more than 34,000 job openings for farmworkers this year, according to a report to legislators.

The number was up from zero in 2021. Placements are “trending up,” according to the report, because of efforts to recruit U.S. residents for jobs that would otherwise go to foreign workers.

Farmers must give priority to U.S. workers. The low number of placements shows that there is a domestic labor shortage, Washington State Tree Fruit Association President Jon DeVaney said.

“We think it reflects the declining number of domestic agricultural workers,” said DeVaney, who serves on an advisory committee that helped compile the report. “These jobs are publicly posted. They are not just posted in somebody’s break room.”

Before farmers can hire foreign workers on H-2A visas, the state employment department must certify that U.S. workers are unavailable for the positions.

With the number of H-2A workers soaring, Washington labor advocates alleged the H-2A program was being used to supplant U.S. farmworkers. The Legislature in 2019 required the employment department to report on its recruitment efforts and the results.

The employment department posts the H-2A jobs and also seeks applicants at job fairs and by advertising on radio, TV and social media. The department helps applicants contact employers.

Despite the efforts, U.S. workers were found to fill only a tiny fraction of the H-2A positions.

Washington farmers this year applied to fill 34,190 jobs with H-2A workers, up from 29,943 the year before, according to the report.

The department reported that 159 people applied for H-2A openings. The department determined 11 met job requirements and were referred to employers. All were hired.

In 2020, the department placed two farmworkers. In 2019, the last year before COVID, the department placed 19.

DeVaney said he doubts there’s an untapped reserve of U.S. workers for farm jobs. Nevertheless, the employment department should continue to try to improve placing farmworkers, he said.

Farms must house H-2A workers and pay a minimum wage set by the U.S. Labor Department.

The department announced Friday that the minimum H-2A wage for 2023 in Washington and Oregon will be $17.97 an hour, second-highest in the country. The wage in California will be $18.65 an hour.