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Who We Serve
Who are farmworkers?
There are an estimated 1.6 million farmworkers working on
seasonal crops in the fields, with a total of 4.5 million
farmworkers and their dependents. There are another 900,000 doing
livestock and other kinds of agricultural jobs on ranches and
farms. Among farmworkers, about 42% are “migrant” workers, meaning
that they travel significant distances to find work. Some travel
across the U.S.-Mexico border and some travel within the
United States from
home bases, especially in Florida, Texas, Arizona and California.
Farmworkers’ jobs are spread throughout the country, with a
significant percentage living and working in California.
Farmworkers face many obstacles in employment. According to
the most recent National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), the
large majority of farmworkers are immigrants, and the majority of
those immigrants, 53%, lack authorized immigration status under
U.S. laws.
78% of farmworkers are foreign-born, with United States citizens
making up 25% of the workforce and legal permanent residents
comprising 21% of the workforce. Farmworker education and literacy
skills are very limited, especially in the English language. The
average highest grade completed was the 7th grade.
Poverty is prevalent
in farmworker communities and few farmworkers have employment
benefits or access to income supports. In 2001-2002, at least
thirty percent of farmworkers earned less than the poverty
guidelines. The annual incomes were about $10,000 to $12,499 for
individuals and about $15,000-$17,499 per family, with the average
wage being $7.25 an hour. Most farmworkers do not receive benefits
like sick leave, paid vacation or health insurance that have become
commonplace in the U.S. Because many agricultural employers are
exempt from unemployment taxes, numerous farmworkers are not
eligible for unemployment benefits even though they perform jobs
that are by their nature seasonal and intermittent. Despite the high
level of poverty and lack of benefits, most farmworkers do not
receive any public benefits. In 2001-2002, only 8% of farmworkers
received food stamps, 11% received WIC and 15% received Medicaid.
About twenty percent of farmworkers in the fields are women.
Women farmworkers face particular obstacles in the male-dominated
agricultural sector, including sexual harassment by supervisors and
absorbing the primary responsibility in the family for the difficult
task of finding affordable daycare. The lack of benefits like sick
leave and paid vacation make it even more difficult to balance work
and family obligations.
For more information
about farmworkers, click
here to read a report providing an overview of
United States
labor laws and farmworkers
Sources:
U.S.
Department of Labor, Findings from the National Agricultural Workers
Survey (NAWS) 2001-2002: A Demographic and Employment Profile of
United States Farm Workers,
National Agricultural Workers Survey Research Report No. 9 (March
2005)
U.S.
Department of Labor, Migrant Farmworkers Pursuing Security in an
Unstable Labor Market, National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS)
Research Report No. 5 (May 1994) |
