Source: USDA, 8/18/11
 

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) published the Farm Labor report today August 18 at 3 p.m. EDT. The program was discontinued in April due to budget constraints, however, discussions with the Department of Labor resulted in NASS reinstating the program. Today’s report is the first one issued by NASS since the program’s reinstatement.

NASS interviewed nearly 12,000 farmers and ranchers across the United States to obtain information on the number of agricultural workers, hours worked, and wage rates at the national and regional levels. The information in this report has many uses, including ensuring that the Department of Labor make accurate decisions about its H-2A program, which allows the department to issue certificates to agricultural producers, allowing admission of temporary non-immigrant alien farm workers for seasonal farm labor. The Farm Labor report is available online 

Hired Workers Down 5 Percent, Wage Rates Up 1 Percent From a Year Ago

There were 1,186,000 hired workers on the Nation's farms and ranches during the week of July 10-16, 2011, down 5 percent from a year ago. Of these hired workers, 836,000 were hired directly by farm operators. Agricultural service employees on farms and ranches made up the remaining 350,000 workers.

Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $10.90 per hour during the July 2011 reference week, up 11 cents from a year earlier. Field workers received an average of $10.24 per hour, up 15 cents from last July, while livestock workers earned $10.28 per hour compared with $10.15 a year earlier. The field and livestock worker combined wage rate, at $10.25 per hour, was up 14 cents from last year. The number of hours worked averaged 41.3 for hired workers during the survey week, up 1 percent from a year ago.

The largest decreases in the number of hired workers from last year occurred in California and in the Pacific (Oregon and Washington), Northern Plains (Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota), and Corn Belt I (Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio) regions. In California and in the Pacific region, the wet spring and cooler than normal summer temperatures delayed crop development, reducing the demand for hired workers. Above normal temperatures, heavy rains, and high winds in the Northern Plains and Corn
Belt I regions discouraged crop progress and slowed field activity. Therefore, fewer hired workers were needed.

The largest increases in the number of hired workers from last year occurred in the Lake (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) and Appalachian II (Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia) regions and in Florida. In the Lake and Appalachian II regions, the wet conditions during last year's reference week slowed field activity for two days. Drier conditions this year allowed fieldwork to progress rapidly, increasing the demand for hired workers. Recent rains in Florida improved crop growth which led to heightened activity on farms causing more hired workers to be necessary.

Hired worker wage rates were generally above a year ago in most regions. The largest increases occurred in Florida and in the Corn Belt II (Iowa and Missouri), Appalachian II, and Southern Plains (Oklahoma and Texas) regions. The higher wages in Florida were due to strong demand from the nursery and
greenhouse industry. In the Corn Belt II region, the higher wages were due to a lower proportion of part time workers. There was also a larger percentage of more highly skilled machine operators on grain farms. Fewer hours worked combined with fewer part time workers in the Appalachian II region led to the
increase in wages. In the Southern Plains region, there were more salaried workers working fewer hours which pushed the average wage up.