Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 45-2041.00, #84 of 1,410 by filings
Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products
- Biggest sponsor
- NORMAN W. FRIES, INC · 99% of its filings
- Busiest state
- GA · 99% of its filings
- Major group
- Farming, fishing and forestry · SOC 45
Weighing an offer for this job?
Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.
Median wage
$26,520
all PERM $103,272
Filings
765
#84 of 1,410
Approval
100.0%
field 96.8%
Median days
471
6 faster than the field
What it pays
Where its median offer sits among every occupation, then the whole ladder of certified offers by year and by state.
Median offered wage
$26,520above 4%
Approval rate
100.0%ahead of 91%, level with 49 more
Median days to decision
471 daysahead of 61%
Each bar counts occupations at that value. More
- 5th to 95th
- 25th to 75th
- Median
- 10th and 90th
FY2025
$24,360 median · 325 certified cases
FY2026
$26,520 median · 438 certified cases
- 10th
- $23,360
- +0.0% since FY2025
- Median
- $26,520
- +8.9% since FY2025
- 90th
- $26,520
- +8.9% since FY2025
- 95th
- $26,520
- +8.9% since FY2025
Each row is that fiscal year's certified filings, counted on their own. A percentile is over the year, so a year with far fewer cases behind it is a thinner measurement than one with more.
| Fiscal year | Cases | 5th | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th | 95th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | 325 | $23,360 | $23,360 | $23,360 | $24,360 | $24,360 | $24,360 | $24,360 |
| FY2026 | 438 | $23,360 | $23,360 | $26,520 | $26,520 | $26,520 | $26,520 | $26,520 |
A median answers whether pay moved. More
Who files it
The sponsors and firms with the most PERM filings under this code, the places the work sits, and who the workers were.
Sponsors filing it
- NORMAN W. FRIES, INC 756 filings · 100.0% approved
- JSMM Farms Partnership 8 filings
- True Logistic Investments Inc 1 filings
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 765 of 765 filings, 100% of the total.
Firms filing it
- LAW OFFICE OF TAE K SONG 604 filings · 100.0% approved
- Cho Law LLC 97 filings · 100.0% approved
- Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O. 8 filings
- Springdale Law Group 2 filings
- Arce Immigration Law, P.A. 1 filings
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 712 of 765 filings, 93% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- Georgia 756
- Nebraska 8
- Florida 1
How this is counted
The worksite state on the application, which is where the job is and not where the company is headquartered. Volume by state across everyone is on the state map. These 3 states cover 765 of 765 filings.
Where the work is
- Claxton, GA 756
- Spalding, NE 8
- Miami, FL 1
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 3 cities cover 765 of 765 filings.
- Every sponsor that files it, by state, approval rate, offered wage and time to a decision
- Every filing for it, PERM, wage requests and H-1B, case by case
Newspapers it advertised in
- 703 cases
Savannah Morning News
- 53 cases
SAVANNAHNOW
- 6 cases
Lincoln Journal Star
- 2 cases
The Grand Island Independent
- 1 cases
Miami Herald
- 1 cases
Savanah Morning News
How this is counted
The newspaper or professional journal named for each case's two print ads, one count per paper per case, however the filer spelled it.
How long before filing it began
- 0.0%
Under 30 days
- 0.0%
30 to 59 days
- 29%
60 to 89 days
- 17%
90 to 119 days
- 21%
120 to 149 days
- 33%
150 to 180 days
- 0.0%
Over 180 days
How this is counted
Days from the first recruitment step to the filing. 20 C.F.R. § 656.17(e) puts the job order and ads 30 to 180 days before filing.
The job itself
What O*NET says the work is, what the market pays it by BLS's survey, its outlook, and DOL's wage levels year by year.
- United States25,180 jobs
- East Georgia nonmetropolitan areaClaxton
- South Nebraska nonmetropolitan areaSpalding
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FLMiami
- middle half of pay (BLS)
- median
- 10th to 90th percentile
- DOL's Levels I to IV, left to right
- median PERM offer
| Area | BLS median | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $35,730 | ||||
| East Georgia nonmetropolitan area | — | $26,978 | $30,306 | $33,634 | $36,962 |
| South Nebraska nonmetropolitan area | $62,930 | $46,717 | $52,125 | $57,512 | $62,920 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $27,170 | $27,040 | $28,392 | $29,744 | $31,096 |
How these figures fit together
BLS surveys employers on what they pay everyone in a job; DOL builds its four levels from the same survey a year later (the July 2026 wage year uses BLS's May 2025 estimates). DOL publishes levels by area, not nationally, so the United States line has none. Levels are hourly in DOL's tables; here they're shown a year at 2,080 hours, as DOL computes them. The metros are the ones holding the most of this job's PERM filings, placed by Census's county files.
The block is the middle half of what employers report paying everyone in this job, citizen or not; the ticks under it are DOL's four prevailing wage levels for that metro, the floors a PERM or H-1B offer is held to. More
DOL's levels for this job in East Georgia nonmetropolitan area, year by year
Each July DOL resets the four levels from BLS's newest survey. A determination keeps the figures of the year it was issued in.
| Wage year | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | $26,978 | $30,306 | $33,634 | $36,962 |
| 2025-26 | $23,338 | $25,480 | $27,602 | $29,744 |
| 2024-25 | $23,026 | $24,398 | $25,792 | $27,165 |
| 2023-24 | $21,549 | $22,859 | $24,170 | $25,480 |
| 2022-23 | $22,714 | $26,270 | $29,806 | $33,363 |
| 2021-22 | $17,742 | $19,698 | $21,674 | $23,629 |
What the job is
Grade, sort, or classify unprocessed food and other agricultural products by size, weight, color, or condition.
- Preparation
- Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- O*NET Job Zone 1-2
- DOL's education basis
- None
- Wage year 2026-27
- Jobs, 2025 to 2035
- -3.4%
- About 5,800 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- No formal educational credential
- BLS
The work, most important first
- Place products in containers according to grade and mark grades on containers.
- Weigh products or estimate their weight, visually or by feel.
- Discard inferior or defective products or foreign matter, and place acceptable products in containers for further processing.
- Grade and sort products according to factors such as color, species, length, width, appearance, feel, smell, and quality to ensure correct processing and usage.
The education workers in it report
- 64%
Less than a High School Diploma
- 27%
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
Titles people use for it
Apple Sorter, Grader, Potato Grader, Sorter, Agriculture Laborer, Corn Lab Technician, Distribution Technician, Egg Grader.
Related jobs: Packers and Packagers, Hand, Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders, Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers, Food Batchmakers, Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders, Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders.
This section includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database and O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. PERM Tracker has modified some of this information (the shares are rounded and only the top tasks are shown); what changed. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Against other jobs
Where this sits in the ranking
Ranked 84 of 1,410 by volume: 83 filed at least as many filings, and 1,326 filed no more.
- Just above
- Heavy and TractorTrailer Truck Drivers 781 filings
- Just below
- Stockers and Order Fillers 756 filings
Other farming, fishing and forestry roles
Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. More
Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. Wages inside a group still swing hard, because the group holds every seniority level and every metro.
- #74 Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse 847 filings · 31 denied
- #119 Agricultural Equipment Operators 450 filings · 30 denied
- #128 Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals 405 filings · 55 denied
- #149 First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers 326 filings · 26 denied
- #186 Nursery Worker 234 filings · 8 denied
- #223 Animal Breeders 183 filings · 1 denied
Notes on these numbers
Reading the wage
A floor, not a salary survey: every level and metro mixed. DOL's four wage levels for this job, by area.
What the median is
The median wage employers committed to in federal filings for this occupation. It mixes every experience level and every metro, and it's a floor: the employer must offer at least the prevailing wage DOL determines for the occupation, level and county. Across all PERM filings the middle half of offered wages runs $45,178 to $141,357, so a figure inside that band is unremarkable whichever occupation it belongs to. The levels page reads DOL's OFLC wage search live.
What these numbers don't say
4 notes
- The code is the identity
- This one is SOC 45-2041.00. Two SOC codes can carry the same job title, so a title that looks duplicated on the ranking is two different occupations. Match on the code when you're checking a specific filing.
- A median isn’t an offer
- It's the middle of all 765 wages committed to for this occupation across the country, entry level and principal alike. The same role's medians swing hard by worksite, which the state map shows directly.
- Approval isn’t about the occupation
- The denial rate moves with what happened in the filing rather than with the job title, so nothing here is a property of Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 765 counted here carry a decision date, because every case in DOL's disclosure files does, so a case still waiting is in none of them. The largest filer of this occupation is NORMAN W. FRIES, INC. Where the queue stands today is on the processing times page.
The window these figures cover: DOL's PERM disclosure files for fiscal years 2024 to 2026, through the third quarter of 2026, 373,939 decided cases. Nothing pending is counted here. How each figure is built
Weighing an offer?
Compare it against this median, then check the state map, where the same occupation's medians swing hard by worksite.
Setting one?
All 1,410 occupations sort together on the wages page, and denial rates show how outcome moves with the offered wage.
Filings newer than DOL's last published file can't be attributed to this occupation until DOL publishes them. The live list on the case search page carries them by employer.
Case data: DOL quarterly disclosure files (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly
Employers and firms: Derived from DOL's disclosure files · data through Jun 30, 2026 · rebuilt with each quarterly load
O*NET occupation data: O*NET Database, USDOL/ETA (onetcenter.org) · data through Aug 16, 2026 · twice a year
BLS market pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (bls.gov) · data through May 31, 2025 · yearly, each spring
BLS employment projections: BLS Employment Projections (bls.gov) · data through Dec 31, 2025 · yearly, each autumn
DOL wage tables: DOL OFLC wage data downloads (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jul 1, 2026 · yearly, each july
What each source includes
Case data: Decided PERM cases only. A case still waiting isn't in here, so counts and durations describe finished cases.
Employers and firms: Employers, law firms and occupations ranked from decided cases only.
O*NET occupation data: What O*NET says each occupation is and takes: its description, tasks, Job Zone and the education workers report. A description of the job everywhere, not of any one employer's opening.
BLS market pay: What employers report paying everyone in each job, nationally, by state and by metro, from BLS's yearly survey (May of the year named). Citizens and immigrants alike; not PERM offers.
BLS employment projections: BLS's ten-year projection of each job's employment and yearly openings, and the entry education it calls typical. A projection, not a count.
DOL wage tables: The four prevailing wage levels DOL publishes for every job in every area, each wage year from 2021-22, as DOL's own tables print them. The floors an offer is held to, not what anyone was paid.
Cite this page
Waiting on a PERM case?
- When it'll likely be decided
- An email when DOL moves it