Figure 2 Legal Status of Hired Crop Farm Workers, 1989-2006
Percent of hired farm workers
60
50
Unauthorized
40
Authorized
30
20
Citizen
10
0
1989
91
93
95
97
99
2001
03
05
Source: USDA analysis of National Agricultural Workers Survey data, 1989-2006.
proximity of Mexico made it easier to expel these workers
than Asians or Europeans.
During World War II, in response to reported labor shortages, the U.S. government made efforts to recruit Mexican
farm workers. These efforts included a bilateral agricultural
guest worker program which set the stage for the emigration
of millions of Mexican agricultural workers (authorized and
unauthorized) to the United States, both during and after the
war (see Box 1, page 4).3
“The Most Economically Disadvantaged
Working Group in the United States”4
About half of all U.S. hired farm workers are unauthorized immigrants.5 Although immigrant farm workers have
higher incomes in the United States than at home, they don’t
always escape poverty as they had hoped.6 Hired farm work
is among the lowest-paid work in the country.7 In 2006, the
median earnings of these workers—$350 per week—were
lower than those of security guards, janitors, maids, and construction workers. Only dishwashers were found to have a
lower weekly median income (see Figure 3).8
The poverty rate of farm worker families has decreased
over the past 15 years, but it is still more than twice that of all
wage and salary employees combined, and it’s higher than
that of any other general occupation.9 A study commissioned
by the Pennsylvania State Assembly found that 70 percent of
the state’s migrant farm workers live in poverty.10 A 2008 survey in Washington state demonstrated the impact of poverty:
6 percent of farm workers reported being homeless—living in
their cars or sheds.11 In California, farm communities “have
among the highest rates of poverty and unemployment in the
state.”12 A study of Latino farm workers in North Carolina
found that their level of food insecurity was four times higher
than the general U.S. population. Nearly half—47 percent—
www.bread.org
of the Latino farm worker households in the study
were food insecure; this proportion rose to 56 percent
among households with children.13
A second cause of poverty—in addition to low wages—is the seasonal nature of some farm work. Families’
average annual earnings decrease when laborers cannot find work throughout the year. In fact, farm workers’ earnings average out to only about $11,000 a year.
Unauthorized legal status, low wages, and an inconsistent, sometimes unpredictable work schedule
add up to a precarious economic state.14 In central
Florida, where hurricanes and freezes can wipe out
crops overnight, food insecurity is a threat. In 2010,
for example, a series of freezes destroyed the pepper,
strawberry, and tomato crops that farm workers are
needed for. “People are working a couple hours a day
in some communities,” said Bert Perry, a community
organizer for the National Farm Worker Ministry in Florida.
Escalated immigration-law enforcement has injected fear
into an already difficult economic situation. “There [in Mexico] we lived poor, but we lived peacefully,” said a Mexican
farm worker in Florida. “Here we live poor, but also in desperation.” Fear sometimes deters farm workers from accessing
nutrition and other federal programs they qualify for. In spite
of their high poverty rates, 57 percent of all hired farm workers—a group that includes authorized as well as unauthorized
workers—report receiving no public support.15 Unauthorized
farm workers, in particular, often rely on private organizations as their main source of support in emergencies.16
The Elusive Citizen Field Laborer
U.S.-born workers do not have much interest in farm labor, and it is not hard to understand why. Farm work is one
Figure 3 Median Weekly Earnings Across Select
Low-Skill Occupations, 2006
Construction workers
520
Material movers
480
Security guards
480
All low-skilled
435
Livestock farm workers
425
Janitors
420
400
Groundskeepers
360
Maids
350
Crop farm workers
320
Dishwashers
0
100
200
300
400
500
Median weekly earnings (dollars)
600
Note: Weekly earnings include wages, bonuses, overtime pay, tips, and other
forms of monetary compensation.
Source: USDA, Economic Research Service.
Bread for the World Inst