Wages Paid To Farm Laborers Up

A January survey found there are currently 807,000 hired workers on U.S. farms and ranches, up 1% from a year ago. Of these hired workers, 602,000 were hired directly by farm operators. Agricultural service employees on farms and ranches made up the remaining 205,000 workers.

Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $11.29 per hour during the January 2011 reference week, up 21 cents from a year earlier. Field workers received an average of $10.23 per hour, up 13 cents from last January, while livestock workers earned $10.52 per hour compared with $10.31 a year earlier. The field and livestock worker combined wage rate, at $10.35 per hour, was up 17 cents from last year.

The number of hours worked averaged 38.9 for hired workers during the survey week, up 5% from a year ago.

The largest increases in the number of hired workers from last year occurred in the Northern Plains (Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota), Northeast I (New England and New York), and Mountain I (Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming) regions. Subzero conditions and heavy snow in the Northern Plains region led to increased supplemental feeding and early calving was underway, therefore more livestock workers were needed.

The largest decreases in the number of hired workers from last year occurred in the Corn Belt I (Illinois, Indiana and Ohio), Corn Belt II (Iowa and Missouri), Delta (Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi), Appalachian I (North Carolina and Virginia), and Southern Plains (Oklahoma and Texas) regions. In both of the Corn Belt regions, mild conditions during the reference week, allowed late corn harvest to progress. ◆