California Crop Worker Characteristics:

Transcription

1 Employment & Training Administration Office of Policy Development and Research Division of Research and Evaluation California Crop Worker Characteristics: Preliminary Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey Farm Labor Issues Conference UC Davis April 14, 2017 Daniel Carroll DOL/ETA

2 Overview Review trends Preview findings Debut new NAWS Web page (if it is live)

3 National Agricultural Workers Survey (Source: National Agricultural Workers Survey) National survey of crop workers, started Fiscal Year 1989 Annual random sample survey of 1,500-3,000 workers Establishment survey find workers at their jobs Leading source of reliable information on crop worker characteristics Limited regional coverage and no local numbers H-2A workers excluded

4 NAWS Data Caveats This presentation is based on Federal Fiscal Year data. The data are preliminary and should not be cited at this time. The data are grouped in multi-year intervals to get a large enough sample to make comparisons. Some of the estimates should be interpreted with caution because they have relative standard errors between 31 and 50 percent. Such values are identified with a superscript a.

5 NAWS U.S. Reg ons..... 'I:, Arizona - NE' 0 NE2 ~ O AP - D1SE

6 NAWS Regions and Stat~... Nedi Dalrota... South Dakota Nebraska KanSBS Arizana New Mexico Oldahoma - Ea I o um200

7 California Crop Workers: Reviewing Trends (Source: National Agricultural Workers Survey) Many trends peaked in Post 2000: A smaller share of California crop workers migrated either within the U.S. or across international borders on an annual basis; Foreign-born newcomers declined among crop workers, from 29 percent in 2000 to 1 percent in 2014; and Crop workers aged and a larger share were married (increasing from 55% in 2000 to 68% in 2014).

8 Declining Share of International Migrants Among California Crop Workers Map Source: (Data Source: National Agricultural Workers Survey) 46 % % 2014

9 Foreign-born Newcomers (Source: National Agricultural Workers Survey) 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 4% 4% % 1% California National

10 Migrants (Source: National Agricultural Workers Survey) 80% 60% 40% 43% 41% 20% 0% % 14% California National

11 California Crop Workers: Reviewing Findings (Source: National Agricultural Workers Survey) Post 2000, the average age of California crop workers increased: From 31 in 2000 to 39 in In 2000, 15 percent were older than 44, compared to 32 percent in 2014.

12 California Crop Worker Demographic Characteristics: Comparing and Variable Fiscal Years Unweighted N = 1,639 Unweighted N = 2,154 Percentage Point (p.p) Change Foreign-born 91% 90% -1 p.p. Born in Mexico 89% 84% -5 p.p. Born in Central America 1% 5% +4 p.p. Legal Status U.S. Citizen 14% 16% +2 p.p. Legal Permanent Resident 29% 27% -2 p.p. Other Work-authorized 1% a 1% 0 p.p. Unauthorized 56% 56% 0 p.p. Migrant Type Settled (did not migrate) 1 86% 84% -2 p.p. Shuttle 2 9% 7% -2 p.p. Follow-the-crop 3 4% 5% +1 p.p. Foreign-born newcomer 4 1% 4% a +3 p.p.

13 California Crop Worker Demographic Characteristics: Comparing and Variable Fiscal Years Unweighted N = 1,639 Unweighted N = 2,154 Percentage Point (p.p.) Change Average Age (-1 year) % 19% +6 p.p % 47% -7 p.p. 45 and older 32% 34% +2 p.p. Single 23% 29% +6 p.p. Married, no children 15% 13% -2 p.p. Married, parent 53% 47% -6 p.p. Average highest grade completed 7th 8th (+1 year) High School graduate 17% 20% +3 p.p. 13 or more years of education 5% 7% +2 p.p. Average personal income, all sources $17,500-$19,999 $17,500-$19,999 (no change) Average family income, all sources $20,000-$24,999 $25,000-$29,999 (+$5,000) Family has below poverty income 28% 30% +2 p.p. Family receives public assistance 52% 61% +9 p.p.

14 California Crop Worker Employment Characteristics: Comparing and Variable Fiscal Years Unweighted N = 1,639 Unweighted N = 2,154 Percentage Point (p.p.) Change Employed by farm labor contractor 34% 38% +4 p.p. One farm employer past 12 months 74% 76% +2 p.p. Primary Crop Field 3% a 3% 0 p.p. Fruit or nut 63% 48% -15 p.p. Horticulture 7% 10% +3 p.p. Vegetable 26% 39% +7 p.p. Primary Task Pre-harvest 22% 28% +6 p.p. Harvest 27% 17% -10 p.p. Post-harvest 14% 21% +7 p.p. Semi-skilled, e.g., equipment operator 37% 34% -3 p.p.

15 California Crop Worker Employment Characteristics: Comparing and Variable Fiscal Years Unweighted N = 1,639 Unweighted N = 2,154 Percentage Point (p.p.) Change Average years farm work experience p.p. Less than 2 years experience 4% 8% +4 p.p. With current employer < 1 year 18% 23% +5 p.p. Average farm work days last year (+8 days) Worked more than 8 hours/day 36% 46% +10 p.p. Average hourly earnings (+7.3%) Has health insurance 36% 57% +21 p.p. Plans to work in agriculture > 5 years 82% 80% -2 p.p. Could find non-farm job within month 24% 35% +11 p.p.

16 Summary This presentationreviewed trends in the characteristicsof Californiacrop workers between 1989 and 2014 and previewed findings. Many of the trends either peaked or troughed in Post 2000, the California crop laborforce: Became less migratory (more settled): the share of crop workers that traveled more than 75 miles to a farm job sometime in the previousyear decreased 40 percentage points, from 54 percent in 2000 to 14 percent in 2014; Aged: the average age increased from 34 to 39; Became more experienced: the average number of years doing U.S. farm work increased by 5, from 11 to 16; Was increasingly comprised of married crop workers (from 55% to 68%); and Experienced a substantial decline in the share of crop workers who were foreignborn newcomers, who in 2014 comprised just 1 percent of California crop workers, compared to 28 percent in 2000.

17 Summary (continued) The preliminary analysis of data indicates that there were mostly marginal changes for many variables when compared to data. Similar to , in : Ninety percent of California s crop workers were foreign-born.!mong all California s crop workers, 56 percent were unauthorized, 27 percent were legal permanent residents, and 16 percent were U.S. citizens. Almost all California crop workers, 84 percent, did farm jobs from one location. Seven percent shuttled between a farm job in California and homes that were at least 75 miles from work. Only five percent had two U.S. farm jobs that were at least 75 miles apart. In , the average age was 38, and a third (34%) were 45 or older. Average educational levels rose slightly from , from 7 to 8 years, and 27 percent in had graduated from high school. Almost half of crop workers were married parents (47%), and 13 percent were married without children, while 29 percent were single without children. The separate shares of California crop workers who were: 1) born in Central America; 2) employed by a farm labor contractor at their current farm job; and 3) were with their current employer for less than a year increased from , from 1 to 5 percent, 34 to 38 percent, and 18 to 23 percent, respectively. In , California crop workers average hourly earnings were $10.83, an increase of 7.3 percent from $10.09 in Thirty percent of crop workers had family incomes that were below the poverty level, and 61 percent were in families that received some form of public assistance.

18 The End More NAWS information is available at: The new URL will be: Contact Information: Daniel Carroll: Susan Gabbard, Ph.D.: