The Alien Labor Certification program is designed to make sure that the admission of foreign workers into the United States on a permanent or temporary basis will not adversely affect the job opportunities, wages and working conditions of U.S. workers. To ensure that this condition is met, a foreign worker must be offered at least the same wage—the prevailing wage—that a worker in the United States would be paid if a U.S. worker was available. The prevailing wage is defined as "the average wage paid to similarly employed U.S. workers for a particular occupation in the geographic area of intended employment." The O*Net system is used to determine prevailing wages.