Farm Labor

Abstract

Farm population estimates indicate that the massive off-farm exodus is approaching its termination; during 1970-74 the rate of farm population decline fell to an average 1.2 percent per year. Estimates of farm occupations for 1974 imply that the nation's agriculture is dominantly a self-employment industry, though multiple job holding is widespread. The aggregate of persons doing some farm wagework is extremely heterogeneous and the market for hired farm labor is characterized by casual employment re lationships. Farm labor in the U.S. lacks market structure and is seldom a chosen life-time occupation. Of nearly 23/4 million who did some farm work in 1974, it was the chief activity for only 693,000. Contrary to popular conception, hired farm labor is not dominated by migrants; in 1974, about 8 percent of the farm work force was migratory. Evi dence on labor force participation, daily and annual earnings, and hourly wages illustrates that the hired farm labor market is dominantly a ready-access, casual market for the salvage of low opportunity cost time. Recent developments in federal policies indicate that farm workers are likely to re ceive federal protection equal to nonagricultural workers. Since 1967, hired workers on large farms have been covered by Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage requirements, and agricultural minimum wages will be increased to general industry levels by 1978. Agricultural workers remain ex cluded from the federal unemployment insurance program and National Labor Relations Act. Farm worker unionization is prominent only on large-scale industrialized farms but will apparently continue to be exceptional nationally.