Agricultural Employment Survey

Washington, D.C.

There were 836,000 hired workers on the Nation's farms and ranches the week of January 9-15, 2000, down 3 percent from a year ago. There were 666,000 workers hired directly by farm operators. Agricultural service employees working on farms and ranches made up the remaining 170,000 workers. Migrant workers accounted for 7.3 percent of the January hired workforce compared to 6.0 percent last year.

Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $8.12 per hour during the January 2000 survey week, up 18 cents from a year earlier. Field workers received an average of $7.32 per hour, up 9 cents from January. Livestock workers earned $7.64 per hour compared with $7.31 a year earlier. The Field and Livestock worker combined wage rate was up 18 cents from last year.

The number of hours worked averaged 38.2 hours for hired workers during the survey week compared with 38.1 hours a year ago.

The complete report of the National Agricultural Statistics Service January survey can be found at the following address: https://www.usda.gov/oce/oce/labor-affairs/affairs.htm. Information derived from the Wholesale Nursery Growers of America newsletter, Jan/Feb 2000 edition.