Source: UC DAVIS RURAL MIGRATION NEWS, 7/10/20


Average employment in US agriculture declined by 75 percent between 1945 and 2020, from almost 10 million to less than 2.5 million. The hired worker share of average employment in US agriculture doubled from a third to two-thirds over this 75-year period. During the four decades between 1945 and the late 1980s, the number of farm operators and unpaid family workers fell faster than the number of hired workers. The hired worker share of average agricultural employment rose from less than a quarter to over a third.

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