guest worker

noun

: a foreign laborer working temporarily in an industrialized usually European country

Examples of guest worker in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
In 2020, guest workers accounted for just 10% of the farm labor workforce, but their numbers are skyrocketing, especially in southeastern states and on the West Coast. Ximena Bustillo, NPR, 16 June 2025 The hope, Morrison said, was to encourage employers to bring in skilled workers via the permanent residency pathway, on the theory that immigrants with green cards would, by being on stronger footing, be less likely to undercut wages for Americans than guest workers did. Alec MacGillis, ProPublica, 3 June 2025 The guest worker program, which began in 1942 under an agreement between Mexico and the United States, theoretically required growers to pay workers at the local prevailing wage and provide them with decent food, housing, and transportation. Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 30 Nov. 2024 Video Waitresses live three and four to an apartment, and at the ski resorts, J-1 visa holders, designed for guest workers from abroad, share bunk beds. Rukmini Callimachi, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for guest worker

Word History

Etymology

translation of German Gastarbeiter

First Known Use

1960, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of guest worker was in 1960

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Guest worker.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guest%20worker. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.

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