According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, farmworkers in the US earned an average of $15.21 per hour, or $32,730 a year as of May 2012. Since most of these workers are hired by the season rather than full time, how much they earn per year depends on how many hours they work each year. For example, according to BLS data, about 22 percent of agricultural workers worked more than 2,080 hours in 2011.
Migrant workers are generally paid less than their non-migrant counterparts. They often work for a fixed number of hours per week, in addition to being paid a stipend for food and housing. The average salary for a migrant worker is $2,000 per year.
What were typical salaries for migrant workers
Introduction
Migrant workers were paid on a piecework basis. Piecework means that the workers were paid based on how much of the crop they picked, cut, or assembled. For example, if a worker was paid 10 cents per twelve quart basket of strawberries picked, she would get 30 cents for every 36 quarts she picked. Piecework could cause problems for migrant farmworkers because they could be docked pay if any of the fruit or vegetables they picked were damaged. Workers might work very quickly to earn more money and in the process drop some of the produce on the ground. They might be scolded and threatened with being fired if this happened too often. If a worker’s family needed money very badly and she had to hurry to pick more crops so she could earn more, she might find herself having to choose between her family’s need for food and her job security–two equally urgent needs that didn’t get along well together.
Farm Work
Farmworkers were paid on a piecework basis. They were paid based on how much of the crop they picked, cut, or assembled. For example, if a worker was paid 10 cents per twelve quart basket of strawberries picked, she would get 30 cents for every 36 quarts she picked.
Seasonal Work
Seasonal workers were hired for the summer and fall. They worked by the hour, piece or acre.
Seasonal workers were hired by the season. They worked by the hour, piece, or acre.
Year Round Work
Migrant workers receive a salary in exchange for the work they do. The salary is usually paid in a lump sum, and sometimes comes with benefits such as insurance or housing assistance.
The average hourly wage of migrant workers was $11.59 in 2014, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This means that if you were working 40 hours per week all year long, including holidays and weekends, your annual income would be $22,000 per year before taxes—but this number is likely lower due to deductions for transportation costs and other expenses related to your job search.
Migrant workers were paid on a piecework basis. Piecework means that the workers were paid based on how much of the crop they picked, cut, or assembled. For example, if a worker was paid 10 cents per twelve quart basket of strawberries picked, she would get 30 cents for every 36 quarts she picked. Piecework could cause problems for migrant farmworkers because they could be docked pay if any of the fruit or vegetables they picked were damaged. Workers might work very quickly to earn more money and in the process drop some of the produce on the ground. They might be scolded and threatened with being fired if this happened too often. If a worker’s family needed money very badly and she had to hurry to pick more crops so she could earn more, she might find herself having to choose between her family’s need for food and her job security–two equally urgent needs that didn’t get along well together.
In general, migrant farmworkers earned less than regular, non-migrant farmers did. Usually they worked for less than minimum wage and had no benefits such as health insurance or retirement plans. In some cases, this was because there were fewer regulations regarding contracts between workers and employers in agriculture than there were in other industries. Additionally, migrant farmworkers often lived where they worked, which made it more difficult for them to strike out on their own if things went bad with an employer.
Conclusion
It is difficult to accurately report on what migrant workers earned because they were often paid in cash. As seasonal or piecework workers, they were not entitled to the pay protection and regularity of other types of employment. Employers could underreport wages or refuse to pay for work done. Workers may have reported different wages for different members of the same family, due to differences in skill levels or willingness to work quickly. Like many workers today who are paid in cash and rely on their employers for records about their earnings, migrant farmworkers may not have generated reliable data regarding how much they earned or how much was withheld from them through deductions from pay (such as taxes).
