Implications for Employment and Training Programs

1. Understanding Workers’ Characteristics is Key to Developing Appropriate Employment and Training Programs:Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey • NAWS is a national survey of the demographic and employment characteristics of hired crop workers. Since 1988, nearly 43,000 workers have been interviewed. • In fiscal years 2001-02, 6,472 workers were interviewed on 946 farms in 88 counties in 29 states. • 78 percent of the workers were foreign-born. • The average highest grade completed among all workers was seventh grade. • Forty-four percent of all workers said that they could not speak English “at all.” • Just 13 percent of the foreign-born said that they had ever taken an English class in the United States. • Between 1993-94 and 2001-02, the share who were employed by labor contractors increased by 50 percent, from 14 to 21 percent, respectively.

2. Place of Birth: In 2001-02, hired crop workers were predominantly foreign-born. Just 23 percent were born in the United States; 75 percent were born in Mexico, two percent in Central American countries, and one percent were from other countries.

3. Age: Crop workers are young; the average age in 2001-02 was 33. Sixty-one percent were younger than 35.

4. Foreign-born Workers, Time in the United States: A large share of the foreign-born (17%) were newcomers; they had been in the United States for less than a year when they were interviewed. A third of the foreign-born had first come to the United States less than three years before the interview.

5. Number of Farm Employers in Previous 12 Months: Contrary to popular perception, most crop workers (72%) worked for just one farm employer.

6. Time Employed and Not Employed: Excluding foreign-born newcomers, crop workers were employed on U.S. farms an average of 34 and one half weeks (66% of the year) and in non-farm activities for a little more than five weeks (10 percent of the year). They were in the Unites States but not working for approximately eight and a half weeks (16% of the year).

7. Native Language: The majority (81%) of all crop workers reported that Spanish was their native language. New language questions, now being piloted, will help identify the native language of indigenous workers from Mexico and Central America.

8. Education: While 56 percent of the U.S.-born workers had completed the 12th grade, only six percent of the foreign-born had done so.

9. English Ability: Not surprisingly, the self-reported ability to read and speak English varied by place of birth and ethnicity. Among the U.S.-born Hispanic workers, just two thirds said that they could read and speak English “well.”

10. Participation in Adult Education (lifetime): Just two percent of all hired crop workers said that they had participated in some kind of job training program. ETA is undertaking an effort to more closely integrate service provision into the One-stops for the migrant and seasonal farm worker population.

11. Implications for Employment and Training Programs • The population surveyed in the NAWS is a proxy for hard-to-reach immigrant populations in other low-wage sectors of the economy that face multiple barriers for employment and advancement. • As the share of low-wage workers employed by labor contractors increases, understanding and identifying the role of these labor market intermediaries will become more important for developing effective training strategies. • Increasing shares of workers in crop agriculture (and in other low-wage sectors of the economy) are foreign-born newcomers who have relatively lower levels of education compared to native workers. • A very small share of crop workers accesses formal education and job training programs. Increased outreach efforts to let farm workers know about existing employment services at One-stops as well as workplace training programs may be appropriate strategies for developing these workers’ skills. • Preliminary findings indicate that the ability to speak English is correlated with higher earnings and more weeks of employment. Workplace literacy programs may be an appropriate and effective strategy for developing farm workers’ English skills and promoting career advancement.