New from Farmworker Justice: Memo on Farmworker Economic and Demographic Statistics

There are remarkably few data sets about the demographic and economic characteristics of farmworkers. Among the few studies that do exist, many have significant shortcomings. One of the better sources for over 20 years has been the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). A random sample of farmworkers is interviewed regarding their families, their jobs, immigration status, and health. There are additional categories that vary between surveys. In the past, the DOL published several helpful reports based on the NAWS data.

Unfortunately, DOL has not published a report in many years and until recently it even stopped releasing the data to the public. Farmworker Justice requested and obtained DOL’s release of the public data from the 2011-2012 surveys. The raw data is available at http://www.doleta.gov/agworker/naws.cfm.

Our staff examined the survey data to provide a basic economic and demographic portrait of farmworkers, including data related to some of the specific policy issues in which we work. We have not conducted a complete analysis of all the data. The downloadable  memorandum summarizes some of the major findings drawn from the NAWS to help inform the public, policymakers, and organizations that serve farmworkers.

Updated statistics in memo include:
Total population of farmworkers
Percentage of migrant workers
Gender and Age breakdowns
Ethnicity and Language breakdowns
Family Status
Income

There are remarkably few data sets about the demographic and economic characteristics of farmworkers. Among the few studies that do exist, many have significant shortcomings. One of the better sources for over 20 years has been the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). A random sample of farmworkers is interviewed regarding their families, their jobs, immigration status, and health. There are additional categories that vary between surveys. In the past, the DOL published several helpful reports based on the NAWS data.

Unfortunately, DOL has not published a report in many years and until recently it even stopped releasing the data to the public. Farmworker Justice requested and obtained DOL’s release of the public data from the 2011-2012 surveys. The raw data is available at http://www.doleta.gov/agworker/naws.cfm.

Our staff examined the survey data to provide a basic economic and demographic portrait of farmworkers, including data related to some of the specific policy issues in which we work. We have not conducted a complete analysis of all the data. The downloadable  memorandum summarizes some of the major findings drawn from the NAWS to help inform the public, policymakers, and organizations that serve farmworkers.

Updated statistics in memo include:
Total population of farmworkers
Percentage of migrant workers
Gender and Age breakdowns
Ethnicity and Language breakdowns
Family Status
Income

Download the memo here