Expanded Production of Labor-Intensive Crops Increases Agricultural Employment

"The production of labor-intensive fruit, vegetable and horticultural specialty crops increased in the 1990s, as did the employment of farmworkers: average annual employment or roughly the number of year-round equivalent jobs rose about 20%, to almost 400,000. Far more individuals, however, are employed on California farms during the year. Agricultural employers reported 1.1 million individuals (unique Social Security numbers) when they paid unemployment insurance taxes in 2001. We analyzed the jobs and earnings of these farmworkers in 1991, 1996 and 2001. About three individuals were employed for each year-round equivalent job in the 1990s, and there was a shift to farmers hiring workers via farm labor contractors. The findings suggest that it may be possible to employ a smaller total farm workforce, with each worker employed more hours and achieving higher earnings." (Abstractor: Author)

• “The authors argue that the efficiency of the farm labor market could be improved so that fewer workers are each employed more hours and achieve higher earnings.” (p. 36). •“The data suggests that: (1) about three individuals are employed for each year-round equivalent job, helping to explain low farmworker earnings; (2) there was a shift in the 1990s from crop farmers hiring workers directly to farmers hiring via farm labor contractors (FLCs); and (3) there is considerable potential to improve farm labor market efficiency, by using a smaller total workforce with each worker employed more hours and achieving higher earnings.” (p. 36).

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2004
• Author(s): Khan, Akhtar; Martin, Philip; Hardiman, Phil
• Organizational Author(s): California Agriculture, Agriculture and Natural Resources Division, University of California
• Funding Source: Funding source not identified
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies