Why Do Fewer Agricultural Workers Migrate Now?

Abstract

The share of agricultural workers who migrate within the United States has fallen by approximately 60% since the late 1990s. To explain this decline in the migration rate, we estimate annual migration-choice models using data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey for 1989-2009. On average over the last decade of the sample, one-third of the fall in the migration rate was due to changes in the demographic composition of the workforce, while twothirds was due to changes in coefficients ("structural" change). In some years, demographic changes were responsible for half of the overall change.JEL: J43, J61, J82, Q19

Earnings, Wages, and Poverty Outcomes of US Farm and Low‐Skill Workers

“…Third, the tight wage range with a variation of 10% across the low‐skill jobs outside of construction is suggestive of integrated and competitive labor markets. This outcome is consistent with the observation by Hanson, Liu, and McIntosh () regarding high levels of mobility for immigrants across low‐skilled labor markets, our conceptual framework of labor mobility helping to generate similar returns, and the recent resilient wage and earning outcomes of agricultural labors reported in Fan et al (); Fan, Pena, and Perloff ().…”

Labor and the Problem of Herbicide Resistance: How Immigration Policies in the United States and Canada Impact Technological Development in Grain Crops

“…This discussion reflects the reality that migrant laborers are decreasing in availability in the United States right as commodity grain crop growers are starting to need to hire them (Charles 2017;Fan et al 2015). In addition to this issue of availability, growers in our focus groups were also concerned with the cost of hiring migrant workers.…”

“…The reliance on these workers, however, has significant risks attached to it. With current political and social trends in the United States, migrant labor shortages have become a serious problem (Fan et al 2015;Zahniser et al 2018). This has the potential to devastate sectors of US agriculture that cannot function without the readily available and low-cost hand labor that Mexican migrant farm laborers provide.…”

“…The impact of foreign workers' availability on horticulture-and in particular its correlation with mechanization-has been well documented (e.g., Bellenger et al 2008;Fan et al 2015;Martin 2013). However, the effect on commodity field crops has been deemed largely irrelevant because of already high levels of mechanization in these systems (Martin 2013).…”

Job satisfaction assessments of agricultural workers help employers improve the work environment and reduce turnover

“…Long work hours, unconventional work schedules that vary seasonally and frequently entail early start times, and the often insecure nature of agricultural employment make it challenging for workers to honor family commitments. Additionally, the agricultural workforce has become increasingly populated by individuals with greater family commitments (Fan et al 2015). Agricultural work is typically more demanding in summer and less demanding in winter, but family commitments may be greater in summer months, when school is not in session, creating a conflict with agricultural work.…”