What is the average annual wage of a farmworker?
According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Survey (NASS), the average wage of a farmworker in October of 2000 was $8.29 per hour, with fieldworkers earning an average of $7.74. In April of 2003, those wages had only risen by $0.87 and $0.66 per hour respectively.14 A report on the findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), issued by the Department of Labor in March of 2000, made reference to a negative pattern in farmworkers’ wages. While the economy was experiencing widespread growth in the 1990’s, farmworkers wages lost significant ground to jobs in other sectors. Although their average hourly wages increased from $5.24 in 1989 to $6.18 in 1998, the total increase was only 18% as compared with a 32% increase experienced over that period by non-agricultural workers. When adjusted for inflation, farmworkers actually suffered an 11% loss in purchasing power over the decade.15 A 1997 NAWS study reported that 75% of farmworkers earned under $10,000 annually
