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United Wd
Departmen
Agriculture
Economic
Research
Service
Agriculture
Handbook
Number 658
Agricultural Labor
Data Sources:
An Update
Stan G. Daberkow
Leslie A. Whitener
869071
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Agricultural Labor Data Sources: An Update, by Stan G. Daberkow and
Leslie A. Whitener, Agriculture and Rural Economics Division, Economic
Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agriculture Handbook
No. 658.
Abstract
Agricultural labor data provide information for monitoring the performance
of U.S. agriculture, examining the economic v\^ell-being of farmworkers, and
analyzing farm labor policies and legislation. This report identifies,
describes, and compares various data sources used to analyze the different
components of the agricultural work force, and alerts the reader to differences in data sources that complicate comparisons. The data sources differ by population universe, degree of coverage, frequency of data collection,
concepts and definitions, age criteria, employment reference period, and
published versus other available data.
Keywords: Agricultural employment, farm labor expenditures, farmworker
earnings, hired farmworkers, farm operators, unpaid farmworkers, agricultural service workers, data sources.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Mary Ahearn, Vera Banks, Herman Bluestone,
Robert Coltrane, Neil Cook, Howard Holden, Dan Holik, Kenneth Krause,
James Liefer, Edie McArthur, Bill Nelson, Susan Pollack, John Priebe, Connie Ross, Peggy Ross, Grover Sanders, and Jim Zavrell for their helpful
comments and advice. Appreciation is also extended to Linda Rail and
Wanda Petty for typing this report and to Ellen Shields, editor.
Washington, D.C. 20005-4788
August
1986
111
Contents
Summary
Abbreviations
Introduction
Page
v
vi
1
Major Sources of Agricultural Labor Data
Establishment Surveys
Census of Agriculture
Farm Labor Survey
Farm Costs and Returns Survey
Household Surveys
Decennial Census of Population
Current Population Survey
Monthly Survey
Farm Population Data
Annual Demographic File
Hired Farm Working Force Survey
Farm Sector Productivity Data .•
Administrative Records
ES-202 Program
Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Insurance
Covered Employment Data
Bureau of Economic Analysis Agricultural
Employment and Income Data
Social Security Program
County Business Patterns
Social Security Farmworker Statistics
Federal Tax Returns
2
2
2
6
7
7
8
9
9
10
10
11
11
12
12
Miscellaneous Data Sources
Survey of Income and Program Participation
Temporary Foreign (H-2) Agricultural Worker Data
Immigration and Naturalization Service Deportable Alien Data
In-Season Farm Labor Reports
Farm Labor Contractor Data
Production and Efficiency Statistics of the Farm Sector
15
15
16
16
17
17
17
Differences Among Data Sources
Concepts and Definitions
Population Universe and Availability of Data Items
Degree of Coverage
Frequency of Collection
Age Criteria
Employment Reference Period
Published Versus Other Available Data
18
18
20
21
21
21
21
22
References
23
Appendix—Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)
25
12
13
13
14
14
14
Summary
Agricultural labor data provide necessary information for monitoring the
performance of U.S. agriculture, examining the economic well-being of
farmworkers, and allocating funds for farmworker programs. Information
on agricultural employment is also used to examine farm labor policy
issues, such as immigration reform, occupational safety and health, income
and wage stability, and the effects of technological developments on farm
employment. Also, accurate estimates of net farm income require reliable
data on labor expenditures as a part of agricultural production costs.
Agricultural employment data originate from three major sources:
households which supply workers, estabUshments that employ workers, and
agencies that administer employment-related programs. This report reviews
20 sources of data that include information on some aspect of agricultural
employment, agricultural expenditures, wages, or hours worked. All of
these sources report national level data which are collected on a periodic
basis.
Household data from the Decennial Census of Population or the Current
Population Survey provide detailed information on the demographic,
economic, and employment characteristics of agricultural workers and
members of their households. Estabhshment or employer data, such as that
from the Census of Agriculture or the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Farm Labor Survey, include statistics on characteristics of the job or the
farm. Data from the administrative records of Government employmentrelated programs, such as the Unemployment Insurance or Social Security
Programs, are generally obtained from employers. The universe from which
these data are collected is limited to the scope of the individual programs.
Agricultural employment numbers and estimates of farm labor expenditures
vary among the data sources reviewed in this report due to differences in
survey methods, definitions, data collection procedures, and the time data
were collected. An examination of the methods used to collect the information can provide a general explanation for some of the variation in
estimates among the different data sources.
Many of the data sources reviewed in this handbook suffer from problems
of Umited geographic detail, small sample size, infrequency of data collection, or population universes which exclude major segments of farmworkers. Collecting more timely and accurate information with greater
geographic detail should aid future policy and program developments
relating to U.S. agriculture.
Abbreviations
ADF—Annual Demographic File
BEA—Bureau of Economic Analysis
BLS—Bureau of Labor Statistics
CBP—County Business Patterns
CPS—Current Population Survey
CWHS—Continuous Work History Sample
ERS—Economic Research Service
ETA—Employment and Training Administration
FCRS—Farm Costs and Returns Survey
FICA—Federal Insurance Contributions Act
FUTA—Federal Unemployment Tax Act
H-2—Temporary Foreign Worker
HFWF—Hired Farm Working Force
INS—Immigration and Naturalization Service
1RS—Internal Revenue Service
MSPA—Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act
NASS—National Agricultural Statistics Service
SIC—Standard Industrial Classification
SIPP—Survey of Income and Program Participation
SSA—Social Security Administration
USDA—U.S. Department of Agriculture
Agricultural Labor Data Sources;
An Update
Stan G. Daberkow
Leslie A. Whitener*
Introduction
Detailed data on the employment and earnings
characteristics of farmworkers have been used to
examine farm labor policy issues, including occupational safety and health (5), immigration reform (4),
stabilization of income and wages [1,7,17], labor
organization and collective bargaining (8), and the
effects of technological developments on farm
employment [6,11).'^ Agricultural labor data also
have been used to develop, evaluate, and allocate
funds for farm labor programs [15,26). Information
on the level and trends of agricultural employment
and total hours worked are necessary for measuring
labor productivity and productivity changes in the
agricultural sector [3,20,21). Individual and
household data have been used to monitor the
demographic characteristics and economic wellbeing of farmworkers [14,18,24,30). Finally, accurate
farm income estimates require reliable data on
labor expenditures as part of the costs of
agricultural production [16,19).
concepts.2 Also, we consider some of the less wellknown sources of data, which generally were not
included in other reviews.
The criteria for including a data source in this
report were: the data must measure some aspect of
agricultural employment, agricultural expenditures,
wages, or hours worked; the data must be available
to the public (but not necessarily published) at the
national level; and the data must be collected on a
regular basis.
This report identifies, describes, and compares
various data sources which are most useful for
analyzing the different components and characteristics of the agricultural work force. We have
undertaken this study because existing reviews of
agricultural data (2,9,12) have become outdated and
do not cover all the major sources. Since the existing reviews were completed, some data sources
have changed in the frequency of data collection,
sample size, statistical reliability, and definitional
This report examines the definitions, data collection
and estimation procedures, and content of each of
the data sources. Detailed tables are provided to
contrast the different sources of agricultural labor
data. Discussed in a miscellaneous section are
several data sources that are less defined and
documented or that relate to only a particular type
of agricultural employment, for example, seasonal
farmworkers, farm labor contractors, or illegal
aliens. The implications section examines agricultural labor data from each major data source, and
suggests points of difference that users should consider when comparing or evaluating the different
data sources. For more information, data users are
encouraged to consult the suggested references
listed at the end of each section. Suggested
references marked with an asterisk alert the
reader to pubhcations containing information on
research methods and data collection procedures.
*Stan Daberkow was with the Agriculture and Rural Economics Division (ARED), Economic Research Service (ERS), U.S.
Department of Agriculture when he co-authored this report. He
is now an agricultural economist with the Natural Resource
Economics Division, ERS. Leslie Whitener is a sociologist with
ARED.
^Italicized numbers in parentheses refer to items in the
References section at the end of this report.
2For example, the sample size and frequency of data collection
for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm Labor
Survey has changed twice since 1981. The USDA's Hired Farm
Working Force data are now collected and published biennially
instead of annually, and this survey now collects information on
farm operators and unpaid workers as well as hired farmworkers. The administrative framework underlying farmworker
estimates based on Social Security data has changed considerably since 1977, and the Social Security Administration no
longer publishes farmworker data.
Major Sources of Agricultural Labor Data
The collection, dissemination, and use of
agricultural labor data is complicated by several
factors that relate to the structure of the agricultural industry and the characteristics of its workers.
Agricultural production is widely dispersed
throughout the country, and the number of potential reporting units (farms, ranches, and agricultural
service operations) is large. There is also considerable seasonal fluctuation in agricultural
employment, with wide variations in peak employment by type of commodity and region. Thus,
numerical estimates provided by agricultural
employment data vary depending on time of collection and whether data refer to employment during
1 week or the entire year (29).
Self-employment and unpaid family employment are
difficult concepts to define and measure. The problem is further complicated by part-time and hobby
farmers, partnerships, and multiple job-holding by
farm operators and their family members. The
problems of data collection and use are also compounded by varying definitions of agriculture,
farms, farmers, and farmworkers (9). Finally,
agricultural labor data are affected by the unknown
number of illegal aliens who work in agriculture. Illegal aliens are more likely to be included in some
agricultural labor data sources than in others
because of the time and type of data collected.^
Agricultural labor data originate from three major
sources: households, establishments, and Government agencies. Household data provide detailed information on the demographic, economic, and
employment characteristics of agricultural workers
and other members of their households. Establishment or employer data generally provide details on
characteristics of the job or the farm. The administrative records of Government agencies which
operate employment-related programs provide data
typically obtained from employers. This information
is usually less comprehensive than other sources,
because individual programs normally do not cover
the entire farm labor universe.
Data sources differ in terms of the Federal agency
responsible for data collection, degree of coverage,
level of geographic detail, and frequency of data
collection or publication (table 1). The data sources
reviewed here collect information on different
3For example, data measuring total annual expenditures for
farm labor probably include expenditures for illegal aliens; data
on total employment collected in winter months may exclude
those foreign nationals who did farmwork in the United States
but who returned home before the data were collected.
universes, such as farms, farm resident households,
households with self-employed or hired farm
workers, farm employers covered by Unemployment Insurance, agricultural service employers contributing to Social Security, and agricultural
employees contributing to Social Security.
Household and establishment employment data are
based on a sample rather than a complete census.
Data from administrative records of employers
often approximate a complete census, but the
population included may be limited by program
definitions. All of these sources provide measures
for the Nation as a whole. Some provide additional
data for counties. States, or regions. The frequency
of data collection varies considerably among the
different employment series, ranging from monthly
to once every 10 years.
The specific types of data which are available (but
are not necessarily published) from each data series
are summarized in table 2 for three broad
agricultural data categories—employment data,
labor expenditure or payroll data, and earnings and
hours data.
Establishment Surveys
Establishment data are collected directly from farm
employers. The major sources of establishment data
are the Census of Agriculture, the U.S. Department
of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm Labor Survey, and
USDA's Farm Costs and Returns Survey.
Census of Agriculture. The Census of Agriculture
provides a periodic statistical report of the Nation's
farms and ranches. It includes information on land
in farms, acreage, land use, operator characteristics, production expenses, machinery and
equipment, inventory, production, and sales data
for agricultural products. The Census of Agriculture
has been conducted by the Bureau of the Census
periodically since 1840, primarily by mail, but
beginning with 1982 it is scheduled for every 5
years. Data are published for the United States, the
50 individual States, and over 3,000 counties or
their equivalents. Data are also available on publicuse computer tapes, and special tabulations can be
prepared by the Bureau of the Census for users
with specific requirements that cannot be met by
published statistics or public-use tapes.
Most data are collected from all identified farm and
ranch operators. However, some of the selected
items, including information on hired labor expenditures, contract labor expenditures, and number of
hired farmworkers, are collected from a 20-percent
sample. This sample contained about 450,000 farm
operators in 1982.
The 1982 Census of Agriculture identifies a farm as
any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were sold, or normally would
have been sold during the census year.
Agricultural employment data from the Census of
Agriculture fall into the following categories:
number and characteristics of farm operators;
number of hired workers employed during the year;
and expenditure data on hired farm or ranch labor,
contract labor, and machine rental and
customwork.
Table l~Major sources of agricultural labor data: General characteristics
Responsible
Federal
agency
Data series
Establishment survey data:
Census of Agriculture
Farm Labor Survey
Farm Costs and Returns
Survey
Household survey data:
Decennial Census of
Population
Current Population
SurveyMonthly survey
Farm Population
March ADF«
Hired Farm Working
Force Survey
Farm Sector
Productivity
Administrative records data:
ES-202 Program—
BLS Unemployment Insurance covered
employment^
BEA Employment and
Income
Social Security ProgramCounty Business
Patterns
Social Security Farmworker Statistics
Federal tax returns
Degree of coverage
Level of greatest
geographic
detail
Frequency of
data collection
Bureau of the Census
NASS^
Sample of farms
Sample of farms
County
State/region
5 years
Quarterly
ERS-NASS^ 2
Sample of farms
Region
Annual
Bureau of the Census
Sample of households
County
10 years
Bureau of the
Census-BLS3
Bureau of the
Census-ERS2
Bureau of the Census
Bureau of the
Census-ERS2
Sample of households
Sample of farm
households
Sample of households
Sample of households
with hired farmworkers
Stated
Monthly
Stated
Stated
Annual^
Annual
State'*
2 years
BLS3
Sample of households
U.S.
Quarterly
BLS3
Census of Unemployment Insurance
covered employers^
County
Monthly
Census of selfemployed and
Unemployment Insurance covered
employers^
County
Annual^
County
Annual
State
State
Annual
Annual
BEA«
Bureau of the Census
Social Security
Administration
IRSio
Census of agricultural
service employers
contributing to
Social Security
Sample of farmworkers
contributing to Social
Security
Sample of farms
^NASS = National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
2ERS = Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
3BLS = Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor.
^State data are available but are not published due to the small sample size and low reliability of the estimates.
^Based on monthly data but published as an annual average.
«Annual Demographic File compiled from the March CPS supplement.
^Includes farms and agricultural service establishments.
»BEA = Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.
«Includes farms and agricultural service establishments. The BEA makes estimates for non-Unemployment Insurance covered
employers in some States.
^oiRS = Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of Treasury.
Table 2—Major sources and types of agricultural labor data
Labor expenditure
or payroll data
In-kind
Farm conFarm conpayments
Unpaid tract laborers Wage and tract laborers
Selfand
Wage and
and/or
and/or
workers
employed or salary
employer
salary
agricultural
agricultural
(family and
farm
financed
workers
workers
service
service
other)
operators
fringe
workers
workers
benefits
Labor earnings
and hours data
Employment data
Data series
Establishment
survey
data:
Census of
Agriculture
Farm Labor
Survey
Farm Costs
and
Returns
Survey
Household
survey
data:
Decennial
Census of
Population
Current
Population
SurveyMonthly
survey
Farm
Population
March
ADF
Hired
Farm
Working
Force
Survey
Farm Sector
Productivity
X
X
X*
X*
Hours
Custom
work and Hourly worked Annual
per earnings
machine wages
week
rental^
X*3
X*
X*3
X*3
X5
X*
X*
X*
X*3
x*3
-
X
X
X
-
X
X
X6
X«
X6
Administrative
records
data:
ES-202
Program—
BLS
Unemployment
Insurance
covered
employment
BEA
Employment
and Income
See footnotes at end of table.
X7
continued
Table 2—Major sources and types of agricultural labor data—continued
Labor expenditure
or payroll data
In-kind
Farm conFarm conpayments
Unpaid tract laborers Wage and tract laborers
Selfand
Wage and
and/or
and/or
workers
employed or salary
employer
salary
agricultural
agricultural
(family and
farm
financed
workers
workers
service
service
other)
operators
fringe
workers
workers
benefits
Employment data
Data series
Labor earnings
and hours data
Hours
Custom
work and Hourly worked Annual
per earnings
machine wages
week
rental^
Social
Security
ProgramCounty
Business
Patterns
Social
Security
Farmworker
X
Statistics
Federal tax
X
X«
returns
Note: X indicates annual estimates; X* indicates estimates for survey week only.
— Indicates data were not available.
^Custom work includes activities such as spraying, threshing, and combining when a combined rate is paid to an individual for the
use of equipment and labor.
^Includes expenditures for machine hire, rental of machinery and equipment, and custom work. Categories are not reported separately.
^For wage and salary workers only.
*Only net income from own farm is available; total annual earnings data for other workers are reported but cannot be associated with
specific occupations.
^Weekly earnings for wage and salary workers for the survey week are available from this source but are not published; no other
annual earnings data are available.
«Data are for total agricultural employment; information for categories of self-employed, wage and salary, and unpaid workers is not
reported separately.
'Annual earnings estimates are available separately for farm proprietors, agricultural wage and salary workers, and agricultural service
wage and salary workers.
»Includes expenditures for wage and salary and contract workers; expenditures are not reported separately for these groups.
Information on farm operators includes those persons who have major responsibiUty for the day-today farm decisions. The operator may be the
owner, member of owner's household, salaried
manager, tenant, renter, or sharecropper. However,
in the case of partnerships, only one partner is
counted. Operator characteristics reported include
racial/ethnic group, age, gender, place of residence,
principal occupation, and days of off-farm work
during the census year. Data are not reported for
unpaid family workers.
The Census of Agriculture collects information on
the number of hired workers working either fewer
than 150 days, or 150 days or more during the year
on individual farms. Farmworkers employed by
more than one employer during the year could be
counted more than once. The Census of Agriculture
does not provide information on the hours worked
or wages received by hired farmworkers and does
not report the number of workers involved in contract labor or custom work.
The Census of Agriculture provides three types of
labor expenditure data. Hired labor expenditure
data include gross wages or salaries, commissions,
paid bonuses, leave pay before deductions, Social
Security taxes, health, life, and employment insurance, and other benefits paid by the employer.
Contract labor expenditures include expenses paid
primarily for labor, such as harvesting of crops or
shearing sheep, which is performed on a contract
basis by a contractor, crew leader, or cooperative.
This excludes money paid to contractors for capital
improvements such as land clearing and building
repairs, or maintenance. Expenditures for custom
work, machine hire, and rental of machinery and
equipment include expenses for use of equipment
and for customwork such as grinding and milling
feed, combining corn, picking, drying, spraying,
dusting, or fertilizing. These expenditure data are
classified by various farm and operator characteristics, including tenure, type of organization, age
and principal occupation of operator, size of farm,
value of agricultural products sold, and type of
agricultural production identified by the Standard
Industrial Classification (SIC). Data are available at
the 4-digit detail for crops (SIC 01) and livestock
(SIC 02), but most data are published at the 2- or
3-digit level. Data are not available for agricultural
services (SIC 07). (See app. for a listing of the
detailed SIC groups relating to agriculture.)
Suggested references:
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the
Census. 1982 Census of Agriculture. Vol. 1:
Geographic Area Series, State and County Data.
Series AC82-A-1 to 54. (Volume 1 includes a U.S.
summary with data for States, and separate
reports for each of the 50 States, Puerto Rico,
Guam, and the Virgin Islands.)*^
. Vol. 2: Subject Series, Graphic Summary.
Series AC82-55-1. (Presents profile of agriculture
in a series of U.S. maps.)
. Vol. 2: Subject Series, Coverage Evaluation. Series AC82-55-2.*
Guide to the 1982 Census of Agriculture
and Related Statistics, April 1984.*
Farm Labor Survey. The USDA's National
Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts the
Farm Labor Survey (FLS) of farm employers to
obtain information on farm employment, hours
worked, and wages paid. Statistics on the numbers,
hours, and wages of agricultural service workers
are also collected. Agricultural service work is work
done on farms or ranches for a fee or on a contract
basis. Since July 1984, the survey has been conducted four times a year (January, April, July, and
October) in five areas, California, Florida, Hawaii,
Texas-Oklahoma, and Arizona-New Mexico. Farming operations in the remaining States are surveyed
three times a year (April, July, and October).
Estimates of agricultural employment are published
for 3 States, 15 regions, and the Nation. Estimates
for agricultural service workers are published for
California, Florida, and the Nation.
In 1982 and 1983, NASS conducted the survey once
each year, and collected information during 1 week
in July. Prior to that, the survey was conducted on
a quarterly basis from 1974 through the second
quarter of 1981, and on a monthly basis from
1910-74. Because of changes in survey methods and
concepts, data from the FLS are not strictly comparable over time.
The FLS employment data are based on a multiple
frame probability survey which uses both a list and
an area sampling frame. Survey estimates are ex4* Indicates that information on survey methods and data collection procedures are contained in the report.
panded to State or regional totals. The list frame is
a stratified random sample containing employers
likely to hire workers. The area frame contains all
land units in the Nation and is used to account for
the incompleteness in the list frame. In 1985, information was obtained from about 14,500 farm
operators. A farm is defined according to the official farm definition (see p. 3). Agricultural work is
defined as work performed on an operation engaged in the production of commodities specified
by SIC 01 and 02 (see app.). Agricultural work
does not include work done off the farm, work
done on the farm which materially changes the
form of the product, domestic family work in the
home of the operator, hauling farm products from
farms to distant markets, or nonfarmwork done on
the farm, such as plumbing, carpentry, or
mechanical work.
The FLS collects information on the number of selfemployed, unpaid, and hired farmworkers who are
employed on farms during the survey week (Sunday
through Saturday) containing the 12th day of the
survey month. While some data series collect
employment information based on a minimum age
of workers, the FLS data include all workers
regardless of age. Self-employed workers are defined as operators and others (including active partners) who work on farms without wage or salary,
but share in the returns from the farm. Unpaid
workers are defined as those who worked on farms
for at least 15 hours during the survey week
without pay and do not share in the returns of the
farm. Hired workers are family members and other
workers who are paid a wage or salary for working
on farms for 1 hour or more during the survey
week. This group includes workers directly involved with the production of crops and livestock,
as well as management personnel, bookkeepers, accountants, cropdusters, buyers, sales people, or professional staff on the payroll who perform work on
the farm. The hired worker category does not include agricultural service or contract workers.
The number of hours worked per week is reported
for the self-employed, unpaid family, and hired
workers. Additional information is collected on
hired workers including method of pay (hourly,
piece, and other rate); hourly wage rates; and perquisites (housing, meals, and monetary bonuses) furnished to hired workers by operators. Occupational
data are collected on the type of work done on the
farm for categories of field workers, livestock
workers, supervisors, and others which includes
bookkeepers, machine operators, and professional
staff people. Information on length of work
(whether the worker was expected to work fewer
than 150 days or 150 days or more during the year
on an individual farm) is also available. Workers
who worked on two or more farms during the
survey week may be counted more than once in the
survey, but their hours worked and wages are not
duplicated.
In the FLS, agricultural service work includes soil
preparation services, crop services, veterinary and
other animal services, and farm labor and management services for others if done on a contract or
fee-paid basis. These services are the same as those
contained in SIC 07, with the exception of landscape and horticultural services (SIC 078} and
veterinary services for specialty animals (SIC 0742),
which are not included.
Farm operators (except those in California and
Florida) are asked to report the number of
agricultural service workers that worked on their
ranch or farm during the survey week. In California and Florida, information is collected on a
separate questionnaire from a sample of agricultural service firms on the number of workers
employed, hours worked, type of work done, hourly
wages paid, and number of farms worked on during the survey week.
Suggested references:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Statistical Reporting Service. Farm Labor. Feb., May, Aug., and
Nov., 1985.
interviewer's Manual, Farm Labor Survey.
Feb. 1985.*
Scope and Methods of the Statistical
Reporting Service. MP-1308. Revised Sept. 1983.*
landlords for farm inputs, including expenditures
for hired farmworkers and contract labor. Since
1982, data are reported by economic class of farm
for each of the 10 USDA farm production regions
and the United States.^ Both ERS and NASS
publish estimates from the FCRS. The two sets of
numbers differ slightly because ERS uses expenditure data from the Census of Agriculture, and information from the Social Security Administration
on the employers' share of Social Security taxes
paid for employees to adjust the expenditure data
from the FCRS. The data pubHshed by NASS are
based totally on FCRS sample data.
Expenditures for wage and salary workers include
cash wages, incentives for profit-sharing plans,
bonuses, in-kind and fringe benefits, and the
employer's share of Social Security taxes. In addition, contract labor expenditures for harvesting,
combining, plowing, planting, seeding, or other
agricultural work performed on a contract basis by
a contractor, crew leader, or a cooperative is
recorded. The expense or cash value of voluntary
expenditures such as pension or retirement plans,
health insurance, or bonuses, and legally required
employer expenditures including Social Security
taxes, and unemployment and workers' compensation is reported separately. Peak number of
employees at any time during the last year is the
only employment number collected.
Suggested references:
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Economic
Research Service. Economic Indicators of the
Farm Sector, Farm Sector Review, 1984, ECIFS
4-2. Dec. 1985.
. Economic Indicators of the Farm Sector,
National Financial Summary, 1984, ECIFS 4-3. Jan.
1986.
Farm Costs and Returns Survey. The Farm Costs
and Returns Survey (FCRS) is an estabUshment
survey conducted by USDA's Economic Research
Service (ERS), and National Agricultural Statistics
Service (NASS). The survey collects production
costs and returns for the entire farm, with detailed
information obtained on specific items. This survey
combines what were the Farm Production Expenditure Survey and the Costs of Production Survey. A
farm is defined as any place from which $1,000 or
more of agricultural products were sold during the
year. A sample of approximately 24,000 farms was
surveyed in 1985.
Two major sources of household survey data are
the Decennial Census of Population and the
The survey estimates, nationally and regionally, annual expenditures by farm operators and/or
5The farm production regions are: Pacific, Mountain, Northern
Plains, Southern Plains, Delta States, Lake States, Corn Belt,
Northeast, Appalachian, and Southeast [20).
. Statistical Reporting Service. Farm Production Expenditures for 1984, July 1985.
. interviewer's Manual, Costs and Returns
Survey, Jan. 1985."
Scope and Methods of the Statistical Reporting Service. MP-1308. Sept. 1983.*
Household Surveys
monthly Current Population Survey. Detailed
demographic and economic information on
agricultural workers can be drawn from these
surveys. Data are also available for other members
of farmworker households but the summaries below
reflect data available on individual farmworkers.
Decennial Census of Population. The Decennial
Census of Population has been conducted every 10
years since 1790. The Bureau of the Census collects
household data on the demographic and economic
characteristics of the U.S. population. Information
is available for all States, counties, and independent
cities. Data are available in published volumes for
each State and the United States and in summary
computer tape files. Public-use microdata tapes,
which contain information from a 1-percent or a
5-percent sample of households, allow a more
detailed examination of individuals and their
households. Special tabulations can be prepared by
the Bureau of the Census for users with specific
requirements.
Information for the 1980 Census of Population was
collected primarily through mail surveys. Data on
number of people, race, Spanish origin, gender,
age, household relationship, household size, family
type, marital status, and urban/rural and metro/
nonmetro residence were based on a complete
count of households. Information on employment
status, occupation, industry of employment, and
earnings was based on a 19-percent sample of
households.
Employment data were obtained for all civilians 15
years and older but are published only for those
civilians 16 years and older. All employment data,
including industry, occupation, and class of worker,
were based on the respondent's chief job activity or
business during the reference week, generally the
last week of March. Persons with more than one
job during the week were asked to describe the job
at which they worked the longest. Those not in the
labor force during the reference week were asked
to describe the last job held during the previous 5
years.
The occupational classification system developed
for the 1980 Census consists of 503 specific occupation categories. Those related to agriculture are:
Farm operators and managersFarmers, except horticultural
Horticultural specialty farmers
Managers, farms, except horticultural
Managers, horticultural specialty farms
Other agricultural and related occupationsFarm occupations, except managerial
Supervisors, farmworkers
Farmworkers
Marine life cultivation workers
Nursery workers
Related agricultural occupations
Supervisors, related agricultural occupations
Groundskeepers and gardeners, except farm
Animal caretakers, except farm
Graders and sorters, agricultural products
Inspectors, agricultural products
Industry employment data are grouped into 231
categories, which correspond to SIC groups.
However, the Census classification does not reflect
the full SIC detail, and data on the agricultural industry are not available below the 2-digit level. Data
for the agricultural industry categories available
from the Census are:
Agricultural production, crops (SIC 01)
Agricultural production, livestock (SIC 02)
Agricultural services, except horticultural
(SIC 07, except 078)
Horticultural services (SIC 078)
Class of worker categories are private wage and
salary worker; Federal, State, and local government
worker; self-employed in own incorporated or unincorporated business; and unpaid family worker
(which includes only those working 15 hours or
more on a family farm or business during the
reference week).
Total wage and salary income before deductions is
reported for all jobs held in the previous year and
includes wages, salary, pay from Armed Forces,
commissions, tips, piece-rate payments, and cash
bonuses earned. However, income cannot be tied
specifically to the occupation or industry reported
by the respondents as their major activity during
the reference week. Therefore, if farmworkers did
any nonfarmwork in addition to farmwork completed during the year, these earnings would reflect
wages received from all jobs, and not just from
farm employment. The Census also collects selfemployment income from own farm after subtracting operating expenses. This includes income as an
owner, renter, or sharecropper. In addition, income
is reported separately for nonfarm self-employment;
interest, dividends, and rent; Social Security and
retirement; and public assistance.
Data were also collected on number of weeks
worked during the previous year, usual hours
worked during the survey week (from all jobs), and
usual hours worked per week in the last year.
However, as with the wage and salary income data,
this information is collected for all employment activities, and cannot be associated with the occupation or industry reported in the reference week.
Suggested references:
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the
Census. 1980 Census of Population. Characteristics of the Population, ''Detailed
Characteristics." Series PC80-1-D.*
. Characteristics of the Population, *'General
Social and Economic Characteristics." Series
PCBO-l-C*
. 1980 Census of Population and Housing.
Public-use Microdata Samples Technical Documentation. Feb. 1983.*
. 1980 Census of Population. Vol. 2: Subject
Reports. Series PC80-2. (Selected reports in this
series contain information on agricultural
employment.)*
. 1980 Census of Population and Housing:
Users Guide. Series PHC80-R1.*
Current Population Survey. The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a sample survey of households
conducted monthly by the Bureau of the Census for
the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This survey,
conducted since 1940, provides comprehensive information on the labor force, the employed, and the
unemployed, and characteristics such as age, gender, race, education, ethnic origin, marital status,
occupation, and industry of employment of
respondents. The survey also provides data on the
characteristics and past work experiences of those
not in the labor force. The CPS data are available at
the State level, but are not published due to the
small sample size and low statistical reliability.
Since 1968, the sample records from the CPS have
been available each month in public-use computer
files. These files contain demographic and economic information for every person included in the
survey. Sufficient geographic information is removed to ensure confidentiality.
The CPS sample includes about 60,000 households
eacW month with coverage in all 50 States and the
District of Columbia. The sample results are
weighted to represent independent estimates of the
U.S. civilian noninstitutional population.
Monthly Survey. Each month, questions similar to
those used in the Decennial Census are asked on
industry of employment, occupation, and class of
worker for the employed population. These questions relate to the employment activity during the
survey week which contains the 12th day of the
month. If individuals had more than one job in that
week, the one at which they worked the longest
was reported. Thus, individuals are counted as
employed in agriculture if they worked longer in
their agricultural job than they worked at any other
job during the survey week. Employment data are
collected for all persons 14 years and older, but are
generally published only for those 16 years and
older.
Industry of employment, occupation, and class of
worker information are collected and categorized
according to definitions used in the Decennial Census of Population. Data on workers in agriculture
are reported for crop production (SIC 01), livestock
production (SIC 02), agricultural services except
horticulture (SIC 07, excluding 078), and horticultural services (SIC 078). Information on farming occupations is classified into 14 categories, including farmers, farm managers, nursery workers,
groundskeepers, and gardeners (see p. 8). Class-ofworker data for agriculture identify self-employed,
wage and salary workers, unpaid family members
working 15 hours or more per week, and Federal,
State, and local government workers. Information is
also reported on hours worked at all jobs during
the survey week, but these data cannot be tied to
the specific industry or occupation reported in the
survey week.
Some employment information for wage and salary
workers, including hourly and weekly earnings, and
hours usually worked per week is collected each
month from one quarter of the CPS sample. Earnings data collected include wages, salary, tips,
piece-rate payments, and cash bonuses earned. Median weekly earnings for the combined farming,
forestry, and fishing occupations are published
quarterly by BLS in the January, April, July, and
October issues of Employment and Earnings [24).
However, as with most employment information
from the CPS, earnings data relate only to the
primary activity during the survey week and do not
measure earnings from other farm or nonfarm jobs
held during the year.
The CPS employment data are published monthly
by BLS in Employment and Earnings. This publication contains monthly data on employment in
agriculture by race, gender, age, and class of
worker. Some data are seasonally adjusted for fluctuations in levels of employment due to changes in
weather, reduced or expanded production, harvests,
major holidays, and opening and closing of schools.
More detailed data are available from the public-use
computer files.
Supplemental questions are added to the basic CPS
questionnaire to obtain information on topics such
as displaced workers, job training, adult education,
immunization, and fertility. Most of this additional
information is available for farmworkers defined by
agricultural industry, occupation, and class of
worker.
The BLS publishes national annual averages of the
monthly CPS employment data in the January issue
of Employment and Earnings. Annual averages for
States and other areas are published in the May
issue. Agricultural employment data are reported by
industry and occupation groups, class of worker,
and demographic characteristics. Another publication, the Geographic Profile of Employment and
Unemployment, reports annual averages of selected
employment data by State, census region, and census division.
Suggested references:
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the
Census, and U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of
Labor Statistics. Concepts and Methods Used in
Labor Force Statistics Derived from the Current
Population Survey. BLS Report 463, Series P-23.
No. 62. Oct. 1976.*
. Bureau of the Census. The Current
Population Survey: Design and Methodology.
Technical Paper No. 40. Jan. 1978.*
. Current Population Reports, Population
Characteristics. Series P-20. (Selected reports.
. Current Population Reports. Special
Studies. Series P-23. (Selected reports.)
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Employment and Earnings. (Monthly.)*
Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment, 1983. Bull. 2216. Oct. 1984.
Farm Population Data. The Bureau of the Census,
in cooperation with USDA's Economic Research
Service, prepares estimates of the U.S. farm popula10
tion 14 years and older by age, gender, race, and
labor force status. The farm population consists of
all persons living in a rural territory on places
which had sales of agricultural products of $1,000
or more during the reporting year. Farm families
living in urban areas are not included in the count
of farm residents. These estimates are derived from
the CPS and are computed by using weighted
averages for the five quarters centered on April of
that particular year. For example, 1983 estimates
were based on data from October 1982 and January,
April, July, and October 1983. Beginning in 1984,
farm population estimates will be a 12-month annual average. State data are available but are not
published due to low statistical reliability.
Any of the basic occupation, industry, class of
worker, and other employment-related data collected in the monthly CPS, including hours worked
at all jobs, are available for the farm population.
However, the published reports provide only
limited employment information for the farm
population. Weekly earnings data are not published.
Suggested reference:
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the
Census and U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Economic Research Service. Farm Population of
the United States: 1983. Current Population
Reports. Series P-27, No. 57. Nov. 1984.*
Annual Demographic File. In March of each year,
supplemental questions are added to the CPS to
obtain information on family characteristics, household composition, income during the previous
calendar year, weeks employed full-time or parttime, and occupation and industry classifications of
the longest job held during the year. Data are collected from the full CPS sample, plus an additional
2,500 households of Spanish origin.
Unlike the basic monthly CPS, most of the supplemental employment data are based on activities
during the entire year, not just 1 survey week. Data
on occupation, industry, and class of worker are
based on the longest job held during the year. Also,
unlike the basic CPS, data on total annual earnings
from the longest job, earnings from any other work
during the year, and net income from selfemployment activities, are collected separately for
the preceding year. The definitions of income and
earnings are the same as those used in the basic
CPS. Hours usually worked by respondents and
number of weeks worked are reported for all jobs
during the year and cannot be matched to the
longest job.
Suggested references:
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the
Census. Current Population Reports. Consumer income. Series P-60. (Selected reports.)
. Current Population Reports. Population
Characteristics. Series P-20. (Selected reports.)
. Current Population Reports. Special
Studies. Series P-23. (Selected reports.)
. The Current Population Survey; Design
and Methodology. Technical Paper No. 40. Jan.
1977.*
Hired Farm Working Force Survey. The Hired
Farm Working Force (HFWF) Survey is conducted
for USDA's Economic Research Service by the
Bureau of the Census as a supplement to the
December CPS. The survey was conducted annually
from 1945-77, but since that time the survey has
been done biennially. About 1,500 of the 60,000
households in the CPS sample contain at least one
hired farmworker. Data are available at the State
level but are not published due to low statistical
reliability.
Supplemental questions are asked of all persons 14
years of age and older who did farmwork for cash
wages or salary at some time during the year.
Farmwork is defined as work done on any farm for
cash wages or salary in connection with the production, harvesting, threshing, preparation for
market, or delivery to market of agricultural products, as well as farm management if done for cash
wages. Exchange work, work done by farm
operators on their own farms, work done by unpaid
workers, work done exclusively for payments-inkind, and custom work are not included. Also excluded from the farmworker definition is any nonfarmwork done on a farm, such as contract construction, domestic service work, hauling of
agricultural products by commercial truckers, bookkeeping, and secretarial activities. However, all
nonfarmwork done by hired farmworkers during
the year is reported. Self-employed and unpaid
workers in agriculture are not included in the
survey unless they did some hired farmwork during
the year. However, in December 1985, the survey
was renamed the Agricultural Work Force Survey,
and information was collected on farm and nonfarmwork done by self-employed farmers, unpaid
farmworkers, and hired farmworkers.
The survey collects data on the employment
characteristics of hired farmworkers, including days
worked and annual earnings received from all farm
and nonfarmwork during the year. Data on hourly
earnings for those who were paid by the hour on
the longest farm job have been collected periodically, as has information on major work activity
(harvestworker, livestock worker, machine operator,
or supervisor), and type of crop or livestock worked
with on the longest farm job. In addition, all of the
demographic information collected in the CPS is
available for hired farmworkers.
The HFWF Survey is the only national survey that
collects detailed demographic and employment information on migrant farmworkers. Migrant farmworkers are defined as those who crossed county
lines and stayed overnight to do hired farmwork
with the expectation of returning home, or had no
usual place of residence and did hired farmwork in
two or more counties during the year.
Suggested reference:
Pollack, Susan L. The Hired Farm Working Force
of 1983: A Statistical Profile. AER-554. U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Economic Research
Service. June 1986.*
Farm Sector Productivity Data. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS) calculates a number of productivity measures such as output per worker and
unit labor costs for several sectors of the economy
including the farm sector. The BLS obtains data
from the Current Population Survey (CPS) on the
number of persons 14 years of age and older working in agricultural production defined as SIC 01
and 02. The total hours of labor input to the farm
sector is determined by multiplying the number of
farm employees (including self-employed, wage and
salary, and unpaid workers) by average hours
worked per week times 52 (weeks).
The BLS also calculates both total and hourly compensation estimates for the farm sector using data
provided by the Bureau of Economic Analysis
(BEA). The BEA derives total compensation
estimates for farm wage and salary workers, farm
proprietors, and unpaid family workers. As part of
the national income accounts, BEA provides BLS
with estimates of farm sector wage and salary compensation, which include wages and salaries, commissions, tips, bonuses, and payments-in-kind. Also
added are employer contributions to Social Security, private pensions, and health and welfare plans.
The BLS determines hourly compensation for wage
and salary workers by dividing total compensation
by total hours worked.
11
The BLS determines total compensation for the
labor services of farm proprietors and unpaid family workers by assuming their hourly compensation
is equal to that of the average wage and salary
worker in the farm sector. Hence, hours of labor
are considered homogeneous with no distinction
made among different skill levels.® Although CPS
collects monthly farm employment numbers and
average hours worked per week, only quarterly
numbers are available. The data series, dating back
to 1947, is available only at the U.S. level on a
special request basis.
Suggested reference:
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics. "Productivity Measures: Business
Economy and Major Sectors," BLS Handbook of
Methods. Vol. 1. Bulletin 2134-1. Dec. 1982.*
Administrative Records
Most employers are required to submit wage and
workforce information to State or Federal agencies
which verify employers' compliance with various
public laws. Among the administrative records
which have agricultural labor data are the ES-202
Program which collects information filed through
State or Federal unemployment insurance programs
required by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act;
the Social Security program authorized by the
Federal Insurance Contributions Act; and the Internal Revenue Service tax returns.
ES-202 Program. State and Federal unemployment
insurance programs provide the data base for two
major data series: (1) employment and wage information published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
and (2) employment and income data released by
the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Insurance Covered Employment Data, Since its enactment in 1938, the Unemployment Insurance Program has operated under a mix of Federal and
State coverage provisions. In 1978, agricultural
employment was first covered by unemployment insurance under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act
(FUTA). Provisions of either FUTA or State
unemployment insurance laws determine whether
an agricultural employer is required to contribute
to an unemployment insurance fund, and also
which employees are eligible to receive benefits
«See (3) for estimates of productivity by characteristics (age,
gender, education, occupation, and class of work) of agricultural
workers using CPS data.
12
from that fund. Most State unemployment insurance laws conform to the provisions of FUTA.
There are some exceptions, and variations in State
coverage are published each year by the U.S.
Department of Labor's Employment and Training
Administration (ETA) [25).
With the exception of employers of agricultural
labor and certain domestic workers, FUTA applies
to all employers who paid wages of $1,500 or more
during any calendar quarter in the current or immediately preceding calendar year, or employers
who hired one or more workers on at least 1 day in
each of 20 weeks during the current or immediately
preceding calendar year. However, in the case of
agriculture, FUTA applies only to employers who
paid cash wages of $20,000 or more for agricultural
labor in any calendar quarter in the current or
preceding calendar year, or who employed 10 or
more workers on at least 1 day in each of 20 different weeks in the current or immediately
preceding calendar year.^ Most States have adopted
the Federal law related to agricultural labor, which
limits coverage to the larger farms.« The ETA
estimates about 40 percent of all farmworkers are
covered by FUTA.
The ES-202 program is the title of the cooperative
agreement between ETA and State employment
security agencies which administer the Unemployment Insurance Program. Qualifying employers are
legally required to file quarterly reports (one for
each establishment or reporting unit) with their
respective State employment security agency, which
in turn submits selected data to BLS headquarters
in Washington, D.C. Each quarterly establishment
report received by ETA contains the following
information:
•
•
State and county of employer filing reports.
2- or 4-digit 1977 SIC code (10 States only
report 2-digit industry code).
• Ownership (government, international, corporate or noncorporate).
• Employment as of the 12th day of each month.
• Total wages by quarter.
^Under FUTA, an employer of farmworkers is defined as one
that employs workers who raise or harvest agricultural or horticultural products on a farm; care for the employer's farm and
its equipment when most of the care is done on a farm; handle,
process, or package any agricultural or horticultural commodity
if over half of the (unmanufactured) commodity was produced by
the employer; do work related to cotton ginning, turpentine, or
gum resin products; or do housework in the employer's private
home if it is done on a farm that is operated for profit.
»California, Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, the District of Columbia, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico
all have a more inclusive definition of agricultural employer than
FUTA. See [10,25].
Employment data include all corporation officials,
executives, supervisory personnel, clerical workers,
wage earners, pieceworkers, and temporary and
part-time workers. Total wages, in most States, include gross wages and salaries, bonuses, tips and
any payments-in-kind, but in the case of
agricultural employers, only cash wages must be
reported.
Summary statistics are available on annual average
employment, wages paid, and number of farm (SIC
01 and 02) and agricultural service (SIC 07)
employers. Annual wage per employee, and average
weekly wage by 4-digit SIC categories are also
published. BLS disclosure rules prevent the release
of SIC industry data for counties. States, or the Nation where there are fewer than three reporting
units, or in which the employment of a single
establishment accounts for over 80 percent of the
industry.
Suggested references:
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics, EmpJoyment and Wages: Annual
Averages, 1982. Oct. 1984.
. "Employment and Wages Covered by Unemployment Insurance,'' BLS Handbook of
Methods. Vol. I. Bulletin 2134-1. Dec. 1982.*
Bureau of Economic Analysis Agricultural Employment and Income Data. The Bureau of Economic
Analysis (BEA) established the Regional Economic
Information System in 1967 to maintain a regional
data base on personal income. As part of the personal income estimating procedure, BEA estimates
2-digit SIC industry employment for U.S. counties.
Using data from the ES-202 program, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Farm Labor Survey,
and the Census of Agriculture, BEA develops
estimates, by county, of the number of farm proprietors (sole proprietors plus partners), wage and
salary workers in farming, and agricultural service
workers. County estimates of farm proprietors' income, farm earnings for wage and salary workers
(which include payments-in-kind), other farm labor
income (employer contributions to private pension
and welfare funds), contract farm labor earnings,
and wage and salary earnings for agricultural service employees are also available. Officers and
workers of corporate farms are classed as farm
wage and salary workers, while corporate farm income is classed as dividend income, not farm proprietor income. The BEA does not estimate unpaid
labor nor distinguish between full-time or part-time
employment or between temporary or year-round
employment. Annual income per farm proprietor or
per farmworker can be estimated by dividing total
annual income by total average annual employment
for the respective worker categories.
A separate BEA data series. Farm Income and Expenditures, provides estimates of county-level farm
expenditure data. Annual estimates are made for
cash receipts; other farm income (government
payments and rent); production expenses (including
separate expenditure estimates for hired and contract labor); corporate farm income; and value of inventory change. The estimated value of paymentsin-kind (room, board, and so forth), to farm wage
and salary workers is also available.
The number of farm proprietors is derived from the
annual estimate of farms reported by USDA. This
estimate is adjusted to reflect the number of partners and corporate farms reported in the latest Census of Agriculture. In States judged by BEA to have
adequate unemployment insurance coverage for
agricultural workers, BEA uses monthly ES-202
data to estimate annual average agricultural wage
and salary, and agricultural service employment.
BEA works with BLS each year to assess the adequacy of unemployment insurance coverage in each
State. As of 1985, Cahfornia, Arizona, Florida,
Delaware, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island were
considered to have adequate unemployment insurance coverage for agricultural employment data.
In the remaining States that are not judged to have
adequate unemployment insurance coverage, BEA
reports the number of wage and salary workers
based on annual average farm employment data
from USDA's Farm Labor Survey. Individual
county employment estimates are based on the
county distribution of hired farm labor expenses as
reported in the latest Census of Agriculture. The
BEA's region or industry disclosure rules are
similar to those for ES-202 data.
Suggested references:
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of
Economic Analysis. Local Area Personal Income.
Various years.
Local Area Personal Income, Sources,
Methods, and Output Available from the BEA
Regional Economic Information System. Aug.
1983.*
Social Security Program. Most employers are required to pay Social Security taxes under the
13
Federal Insurance Contributions Act (PICA). The
administrative records filed with the Social Security
Administration (SSA) form the basis for County
Business Patterns (CBP) and Social Security Farmworker Statistics data series.
County Business Patterns. The CBP data are based
on administrative records filed by employers whose
employees are subject to Social Security taxes.
Agricultural workers who are paid $150 or more in
cash wages, or who work 20 or more days during
the year must pay these Social Security taxes.
Employers who hire these workers are required to
withhold Social Security taxes from their
employees' wages. These employers must then submit these taxes to the U.S. Treasury and report this
withholding to the Internal Revenue Service (1RS).
The CBP data report employment information only
for agricultural service employers (SIC 07) whose
employees are subject to Social Security taxes.
Employment data for farm employees (SIC 01 and
02) are collected but are not available for public
distribution.
Agricultural service employers report quarterly
payroll, annual payroll, and employment as of the
mid-March pay period. Payroll data from these
employers include cash wages only. The value of
in-kind benefits and employers' cost of voluntary or
legally required fringe benefits are excluded. Selfemployed workers are not included in CBP data.
Officers of corporations are reported as wage and
salary workers. Data on the number and size of
establishments, number of mid-March employees,
and payroll are published annually for agricultural
services (SIC 07) and farm labor contractors (SIC
0761) at the county level. Disclosure restrictions do
not permit data to be published for all counties.
Suggested reference:
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the
Census, County Business Patterns. (Various
years.)*
Social Security Farmworker Statistics, Congress
established the Social Security Program in 1935; in
1950 the Social Security Program was revised to extend mandatory coverage to all qualifying farmworkers. Under this program, employers must file
an aggregate wage and income statement with the
Social Security Administration (SSA) for all workers
employed during the past year. Similar to FUTA,
each employer is identified as being involved in an
agricultural or nonagricultural trade or business.^
Farmworkers may have both types of income. Infor-
14
mation is available on Social Security taxable wages
(excluding payments-in-kind), which in 1985 was
limited to the first $39,600 in cash wages for farmworkers. The SSA sums employees' wages from
each employer during the calendar year and then
records farmworker employment and earnings data,
thus preventing double counting of workers.
The SSA draws a 1-percent sample of all Social
Security numbers to summarize data. Called the
Continuous Work History Sample (CWHS), this
sample allows demographic data to be associated
with employees covered by Social Security. In addition to estimating the number of covered farmworkers, data on race, gender, age, and farm and
nonfarm earnings are available. Taxable farm wages
and average farm wages per worker are also
available from the CWHS.
The CWHS contains no farm family employment
due to program exclusions. The data on farm
laborers are limited to those who either were paid
$150 or more in wages by any one agricultural
employer during the year, or who did farm
wagework for 20 days or more for any one
employer during the year.
Suggested reference:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Social Security Administration, Office of
Research and Statistics, Social Security Farmworker Statistics, 1977. Research and Statistics
Note No. 3. May 1981. (Since 1977, data are
available on a special request basis only.)
Federal Tax Returns. The Internal Revenue Service
(1RS) is required by law to publish annual information on the operation of the Internal Revenue laws.
Statistics or estimates of receipts, deductions, net
income, and tax liability are made available on an
industry basis. Data for 4-digit SIC industries are
available in some cases. Estimates of payroll and
associated labor expenses are among the business
deductions reported for farms. Farms are identified
either by filing a Schedule F for sole proprietors, or
by sales of agricultural commodities in the case of
partnerships and corporations.
Labor expenditure data include ^'reasonable wages
paid for regular farm labor, piecework, contract
labor and other forms of labor hired to perform
^At one time, SSA published data on the number of agricultural employers and size of operation by State. This data series
is no longer tabulated by SSA due to significant changes in the
way farm employment data are reported to SSA.
work on farming operations" (27,28). Data on
payments-in-kind, as well as wages paid to children
and spouses, employee benefit programs, pensions,
and profit-sharing plans are also reported by 1RS.
However, payroll taxes are typically recorded as tax
expenses rather than labor expenses.
The IRS-published data and special tabulations are
based on a sample rather than a census count, but
the sample is large enough to permit publication of
State data.^o
Suggested references:
U.S. Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue
Service. Farmers Tax Guide, 1984 Edition. Pub.
225. Oct. 1984.*
Statistics of Income—1980, Corporation Income Tax Returns. Pub. 16. May 1983.*
Statistics of Income—1980, Partnership
Returns, 1980. Pub. 369. Dec. 1982.*
. Statistics of Income—1979-80. Sole Proprietorship Returns. Pub. 1131. July 1982.
Miscellaneous Data Sources
This section discusses several less comprehensive
or less documented agricultural employment data
sources. The Survey of Income and Program Participation is included here because the survey has
not been approved beyond 1987, and we feel that
this survey does not, at this time, qualify as a data
series collected on a regular or periodic basis.
Other data sources are discussed in this section
because they relate to only a subpopulation of
agricultural employment, for example, seasonal
farmworkers, temporary foreign workers, illegal
aliens, and farm labor contractors. Finally, this section includes a discussion of production and efficiency statistics of the farm sector because these
data are primarily engineering- or requirementsbased rather than derived from households,
establishments, or administrative records.
Survey of Income and Program Participation
The Survey of Income and Program Participation
(SIPP) is a panel survey designed to provide detailed information on changes in the economic
situation of U.S. households, families, and people
lopor a comparison of 1RS farm data with data from USDA's
Farm Costs and Returns Survey (formerly the Farm Production
Expenditure Survey) data, consult (16).
over time. While the survey concentrates on
sources and amounts of money income and participation in government income, transfer, and service programs, the survey also collects detailed
demographic and employment information.
The SIPP was estabhshed in October 1983 by the
Bureau of the Census, with approximately 20,000
sample households selected to represent the civilian
noninstitutional population of the United States.
Members of households in this initial sample are
scheduled for interview once every 4 months for
2% years, to produce data for analyzing changes in
these households over time. In February 1985, a
new sample of approximately 15,000 households
was added along with an additional 12,500
households in February 1986. Another 12,500 will
be added in February 1987. Individuals in sampled
households will be interviewed every 4 months for
2V3 years. If persons who were at the address at the
time of the first interview move, they are followed
to their new address for subsequent interviews.
Information from this survey will be reported on a
monthly basis in quarterly reports and can be used
to derive annual estimates. The first quarterly data
were released in 1984. Public-use computer files
containing State identification codes for 37 States
are also available.^^ Use of the SIPP for analysis
below the national or regional level (the United
States is divided into four census regions) is not
recommended, because the sample is selected to be
representative on a national basis.
SIPP includes a core set of labor force and income
questions which are repeated in each interview
period. The reference period for each interview is
the 4 months preceding each interview; for example, in October, the reference period was June
through September.^2 Persons 15 years of age and
older who were employed at any time during the
4-month reference period are asked to provide information for up to two wage and salary, or unpaid
jobs held, and up to two nonfarm businesses or
farms owned. The occupation, industry, and class
of worker data for each of these activities are
categorized in the same manner as the Decennial
Census of Population and the Current Population
Survey (see p. 7). Only the reference period differs;
"For information on SIPP Public Use Tapes, contact the U.S.
Department of Commerce, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Data User
Services Division, Customer Services Branch.
i^The panel was divided into four rotation groups, and only
one rotation group was interviewed in any 1 month. Because the
households in each panel are not all interviewed at the same
time, the reference period varies by time of interview.
15
SIPP collects data on employment during a 4-month
period, while the Census collects employment data
based on 1 reference week.
Information reported for the self-employed in
agriculture includes usual hours worked per week,
number of employees, whether the business or farm
was incorporated or a partnership, and monthly income for each business or farm owned. Estimates
of net profit or loss and earnings from selfemployment after expenses during the total 4-month
reference period are also collected. Data on
agricultural wage and salary or unpaid workers include days worked, usual hours worked per week,
hourly wages, and monthly earnings, where appropriate. Industry data are available to identify
agricultural service workers at the 2-digit SIC
level."
In addition to the core questions, SIPP uses sets of
questions (modules) which are asked at selected
times. These modules include such topics as personal and household assets and liabilities, income
taxes and employee benefits, school enrollment,
marital history, fertility, and migration. Other
modules to follow will include questions designed
by or for Federal agencies on such topics as health
care; financing, pension, and retirement issues;
work-related expenses; and energy use. Information
collected in the modules will be available for
agricultural workers defined by industry, occupation, and class of worker.
Suggested references:
Nelson, Dawn, David McMillen, and Daniel
Kasprzyk. An Overview of the Survey of Income
and Program Participation. U.S. Department of
Commerce, Bureau of the Census. SIPP Working
Paper Series, No. 8401. June 1984.*
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the
Census. Current Population Reports. Economic
Characteristics of Households in the United States:
Second Quarter, 1984. Series P-70, No. 4. 1985.*
. Survey of Income and Program Participation and Related Longitudinal Surveys: 1984. Compiled by Daniel Kasprzyk and Delma Frankel. Jan.
1985.*
"The 1985 publications did not include information on persons
who are members of farm households. Information on persons
who live off farms and who have wages or salary from a farm
job or who derive income from farm self-employment were included in the reports. The public-use tapes are not restrictive in
this way and they include agricultural employment data, when
appropriate, for all civilian noninstitutionalized persons.
16
Temporary Foreign (H-2) Agricultural Worker
Data
The Immigration and Nationality Act permits
employers to bring foreign H-2 workers into the
United States to do temporary agricultural work.
Before these workers can be admitted to this country, the U.S. Department of Labor (USDL) must certify that there are not enough American workers
available who are willing and qualified to do the
work needed and that the foreign workers' entry
will not adversely affect the wages or working conditions of domestic workers doing similar work.^^
The USDL's Employment and Training Administration (ETA), tabulates the number of temporary
agricultural jobs (not workers) that have been certified for foreign workers each year. This number
may vary slightly from the actual number of
workers who entered the country to do this work
because some certified jobs may not be filled, and
some H-2 workers fill more than one certified job.
Data are reported by State and type of crop where
agricultural jobs were certified. This information on
H-2 workers is published for internal use within
ETA, but is available by special request from the
Office of Foreign Labor Certification in USDL.
Immigration and Naturalization Service
Deportable Alien Data
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)
reports information on the number of deportable
aliens apprehended in the United States, including
those working in agriculture at the time of arrest.
Deportable aliens include those who made illegal
entries into the country, as well as those who
violated the terms of their admission. Data are collected on year of entry into the United States,
nationality, cause of deportation, and employment
activity at the time of apprehension. Employment
activity classifications are work in agriculture and
work in all other industries. Data are available for
the Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest
regions. Information is collected monthly from the
records of the border patrol and INS inland offices,
and totaled on a fiscal year basis.
Apprehension data cannot provide an accurate indication of the number of illegal aliens in the country nor the number who are working in agriculture.
These data suffer from double-counting since the
same individual can be apprehended many times
during a year. Also, the INS probably detects only a
i^For more details on the H-2 Program, see (4).
small proportion of those individuals who are in
the United States illegally.
Secretary of Labor before a contractor or a contractor's employee engages in farm labor contracting
activities.
Suggested reference:
U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and
Naturalization Service. Statistical Yearbook of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service. (Various
years.)
In-Season Farm Labor Reports
The In-Season Farm Labor Reports list the number
of local and migratory seasonal workers employed
in agricultural work based on grower reports of
activity on the 15th day of each month. The data
are obtained by the U.S. Department of Labor's
local employment service offices through telephone
and personal interviews with farm operators and
others knowledgeable on the local farm labor
market. These data are reported on the ES-223
reporting form. Information is collected for major
crop reporting areas or counties where the local
employment service estimates that at least 500
migrant and seasonal farmworkers are employed.
This information is not published but is available
from the Employment and Training Administration,
USDL.
Estimates are reported for the following types of
farmworkers:
• local seasonal workers (those workers doing
less than 150 days of farmwork);
The USDL maintains a central registry which contains the name, address, certificate of registration
number, issuance date, and expiration date of the
certificate for each registered farm labor contractor
and farm labor contractor employee. The registry
also includes the contractor's estimate of the maximum number of workers to be employed in the
crew at any time during the coming year.
The Wage and Hour Division tabulates information
from the applications for farm labor contractor certificates of registration. The applications are filed
initially in the various U.S. Employment Service offices or Wage and Hour Division area offices nationwide. The data are channeled through the
regional offices to the Washington D.C. national
office for compilation of the registry.
Farm labor contractor and employee data collected
from 1965-83, under the Farm Labor Contractor
Registration Act, the predecessor statute, and data
collected since 1983 under MSPA, are not comparable due to legislative changes in the definition
of a farm labor contractor.^^
Suggested reference:
U.S. Department of Labor, Employment Standards
Administration. Public Central Registry: National
Contractor Listing. 1985.
• migrant workers (those workers not able to
return home at the end of each work day);
and,
Production and Efficiency Statistics of the Farm
Sector
• foreign workers (those workers employed to do
temporary farmwork under the H-2 Program).
Each year USDA's Economic Research Service
prepares production and efficiency statistics for the
farm sector. This data series includes an estimate of
total annual hours of labor used in farming. The
unique aspect of this series is that estimates of
hours of labor used are available for 12 major commodity groups, and for the United States and 10
farm production regions. The major commodity
groups are: meat animals; dairy products; poultry
and eggs; feed grains; hay and forage; food grains;
vegetables; fruits and nuts; sugar crops; cotton;
tobacco; and oil crops (including peanuts and
soybeans).
Information reported includes specific job activity,
such as harvesting, thinning, or planting; and
wages paid. However, from State to State there is
no uniformity in the reporting, collecting, and
estimating procedures used in preparing reports.
Farm Labor Contractor Data
The Employment Standards Administration's Wage
and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor, administers and enforces the Migrant and Seasonal
Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). Its
purpose is to improve employment-related protections for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. The
MSPA requires that a Farm Labor Contractor Certificate of Registration be obtained from the
i^For more detailed explanation of the definition of farm labor
contractor and contractor employees used in MSPA, see (23).
17
The hours of farmwork estimates are essentially
engineering-derived rather than survey-based. An
average number of hours of labor required per acre
of crop or per head or unit of livestock production
is derived primarily from State data or from
estimates by State agricultural personnel. An indirect or overhead labor component which includes
construction, maintenance, repair, and management
tasks is part of the per unit estimate. These per unit
labor requirements are applied to USDA's official
State estimates of crop acres and livestock production to arrive at the total annual hours of labor required by commodity and by region.
Suggested reference:
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Economic
Research Service. Economic Indicators of the
Form Sector, Production and Efficiency Statistics,
1984. ECIFS 4-4. Feb. 1986.
Differences Among Data Sources
Agricultural employment numbers and estimates of
farm labor expenditures vary widely due to differences in methods, definitions, and data collecting
procedures (see table 3 and table 4). Comparisons of
the data from different sources are complicated
because all data are not reported for the same time
periods. However, comparisons of these data provide a general indication of the magnitude of variation among the different data sources. For example,
the number of self-employed agricultural workers
ranged from 1.3 million in the 1980 Census of
Population to 2.8 million in the 1981 Bureau of
Economic Analysis Employment and Income
data—a difference of 1.5 million workers. The
number of wage and salary workers ranged from
634,000 workers reported by the 1981 Unemployment Insurance Program to 4.9 million reported in
the 1982 Census of Agriculture, a difference of over
4 milhon workers. The BLS Unemployment Insurance Covered Employment data showed about
$6 billion in cash expenditures for farm wage and
salary workers in 1981; the Bureau of Economic
Analysis Employment and Income data indicated
$11 billion in the same year.
Users should consider several major points when
comparing or evaluating the different agricultural
employment data sources (see table 1). The discussions that follow focus on these points and provide
specific examples of differences among data
sources. The examples provided are for illustration
only. Data users are encouraged to examine and
compare the research methods for each series.
18
Concepts and Definitions
Definitions and concepts used by the various data
series vary considerably. Users should pay particular attention to the definitions pertaining to
agriculture, farms, agricultural employment, and
types of workers. For example, the Census of
Agriculture and the Farm Labor Survey (FLS) use
the official farm definition of any place from which
$1,000 or more of agricultural products were actually sold or normally would have been sold during the year. The Census of Population, Current
Population Survey (CPS), and Survey of Income and
Program Participation (SIPP) define farms as places
(rural areas only) where $1,000 or more of agricultural products were actually sold during the year.
However, this farm definition is only used to determine farm residence and not farm employment.
The administrative record data collected from the
Unemployment Insurance and Social Security Programs define farms as establishments which raise
agricultural or horticultural commodities, but do
not consider rural-urban residence or value of sales.
Many of the data series define agriculture in terms
of the SIC, but the level of detail reported varies by
data source. County Business Patterns, the
Unemployment Insurance Program, and Federal tax
returns report data at the detailed 4-digit SIC level
(see app.}. The Census of Agriculture data are
collected at the 4-digit level but are usually published at the 2- or 3-digit level. The Census of Population, monthly CPS, March Annual Demographic
File, SIPP, and Social Security Program data provide information at the less detailed 2-digit level.
The FLS and the Hired Farm Working Force
Survey do not report data by SIC.
The definitions of agricultural employment vary
among data sources. For example, the Census of
Agriculture relates the definition of selfemployment only to the farm operator, while the
BEA Employment and Income data include the sole
proprietor and partners. The CPS uses a selfemployment concept which can be applied to either
the agricultural industry or farming occupation
groupings. Wage and salary farmworkers are defined by BEA (for most States) to include corporate
farm officials, but these officials are excluded from
wage and salary farmworker definitions used in the
FLS and the Census of Agriculture. The FLS includes bookkeepers, accountants, sales people, and
other professional staff people who work on the
farm, while the Hired Farm Working Force Survey
does not. The Hired Farm Working Force Survey
includes packinghouse workers or processors if
Table 3—Numbers of agricultural workers reported by the major data series for selected years
Agricultural workers
Data series
Self-employed
or farm
operators
Wage and salary
workers
Unpaid
workers
Agricultural services
wage and salary workers
Farm labor
contractor
All
workers only
Thousands
Establishment survey data:
Census of Agriculture (1982)
Farm Labor Survey (July 1982)
Household survey data:
Decennial Census of Population
(1980)
Current Population SurveyMonthly survey (July 1982)
Annual averages (1981)
Farm population (1981)
March ADF (1983)
Hired Farm Working Force
Survey (1983)
2,241
1,620
4,856
1,541
__
948
_
289
_
—
1,285
1,297
140
—
—
1,795
1,624
1,633
1,553
1,887
1,422
1,547
2,272
341
266
317
102
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
2,492
_
_
_
Administrative records data:
ES-202 Program—
BLS Unemployment Insurance covered employ—
634
—
434
79
ment (1981)
BEA Employment and In2,764
1,327
—
531
—
come (1981)
Social Security ProgramCounty Business Patterns
—
—
272
4
(1981)
Social Security Farmworker
—
2,443
_
_
—
Statistics (1977)
— Indicates data were not available.
Note: Definitions of agricultural and agricultural service workers differ by data series. See text for description of each group of
workers. Data years were selected as near to 1 year (1981) as possible to illustrate differences in data.
they worked on the farm, v\^hile the Unemployment
Insurance Program and Social Security Program
data exclude these workers if less than half the
processed or packaged commodity is produced on
the farm. The FLS excludes all persons working in
a processing facility that materially changes the
form of the product even though the work is done
on the farm. Nearly all household surveys, as well
as the FLS, collect information on unpaid workers.
However, these workers are excluded from the
Unemployment Insurance and Social Security Program data.
Users should also consult definitions of expenditures and earnings before selecting the best data
series for answering their questions. A few commonly asked questions might be:
• Do the data series include measures of
payments-in-kind and fringe benefits, or cash
wages only?
• Are expenditure data for agricultural services
and custom work reported separately?
•
Do earnings data relate to all jobs during the
year or just the primary activity during the
survey week?
An issue data users frequently face relates to the
use of agricultural industry or agricultural occupation data for measuring farm employment, industry
is generally defined as the primary activity at an
establishment where business is conducted or services performed. Primary activity is determined by
an establishment's principal product or group of
products produced or distributed or services
rendered. The SIC was developed for use in classifying establishments by type of activity, such as
manufacturing, retail trade, or agricultural
production.
Occupation is generally defined as the kind of work
a person does at his or her place of employment.
The Standard Occupational Classification was
developed for classifying occupations, but because
of its recent development, most data collection
systems have not yet fully adopted this standard.
19
Table 4—Cost of labor, payroll, and wage and salary income reported by the major data series for selected years
Data series
Cash
expenditure
for wage
and salary
workers
Employer
financed
in-kind or
fringe
benefits for
farmworkers
Agricultural
service
workers
Farm labor
contractors
Custom
work or
machine
hire
Million dollars
Establishment survey data:
Census of Agriculture (1982)
Farm Costs and Returns Survey (1981):
ERS
NASS
7,775
7,702
2,025
1,104
8,441^
1,3622
1,4472
1,031
733
2,768
1,9653
—
Administrative record data:
ES-202 Program—
—
—
—
3,403^
11,0014
BEA Employment and Income (1981)
BLS Unemployment Insurance covered
3,818
—
414
6,042
—
employment (1981)
Social Security Program3,035
—
40
—
—
County Business Patterns (1981)
Social Security Farmworker Statistics
—
—
—
—
6,2706
(1977)
— Indicates data were not available.
Note: Data years were selected as near to 1 year (1981) as possible to illustrate differences in data.
includes, in addition to cash wage or salary, expenditures for gross wages and salaries, commissions, paid bonuses, and leave pay
before deductions, plus value of benefits paid by employer such as Social Security Tax and unemployment insurance. Payments-in-kind
are not recorded by the Census of Agriculture.
^Includes payments-in-kind and employer's contributions for Social Security taxes, unemployment insurance, private welfare, and pension plans.
^Includes expenditures only for custom work.
^Includes payments-in-kind.
^Includes wage and salary earnings for farm labor contractors.
^Includes Social Security taxable farmworker wages only.
Household data, with the exception of the Farm
Sector Productivity Data, provide information on
both industry and occupation. The establishment
and administrative sources reviewed here rely on
an industry concept.
Table 5—Employed civilians by industry and
occupation, 1980
Agricultural industry and occupation data are not
identical (table 5). Data from the 1980 Census of
Population show that about 2.8 million workers are
employed in agricultural industries while only 2.6
million are in farming occupations. Farming occupations include some activities such as cemetery
caretakers, dog groomers, and groundskeepers
which are not in agricultural industries. At the
same time, agricultural industry contains such jobs
as bookkeepers, truckdrivers, or mechanics who
work in agricultural firms but are not included
among farming occupations. About 2.4 million
workers are classified in farming occupations in
agricultural industries.
Agriculture
Other
Population Universe and Availability of Data
Items
While all of the data series reviewed here include
some form of agricultural employment or expend20
Industry
Occupation
Farming
Other
Total
Thousands
2.380
253
380
94,626
2,760
94,880
97,640
2,633
95,0 6
Total
Source: [22]. Detail may not add to totals due to rounding.
iture data, the universe examined and the data
items collected differ extensively. For example, data
on the numbers of agricultural service workers or
farm labor contractor employees are available from
only a few sources—Farm Labor Survey (FLS), BLS
Unemployment Insurance Covered Employment
data, BEA Employment and Income data, and
County Business Patterns (see table 2). Expenditure
data for agricultural services are also limited to a
small number of data sources. Information on
demographic characteristics is available only from
household survey data (Census of Population, Current Population Survey (CPS), or Survey of Income
and Program Participation). Establishment and administrative record data only report characteristics
of the job, the employer, or the establishment. Information on hours worked per week are available
from the FLS, CPS monthly file, Annual
Demographic File, and the Farm Sector Productivity Data, but hours worked data from these series
are not always provided for all worker groups. Data
on H-2 workers are available only from USDL's administrative data, and the Hired Farm Working
Force Survey is the only national level data source
that collects information on migrant farmworkers.
Degree of Coverage
The household and establishment data series reviewed in this report are all based on samples of
the population examined (see table l).^^ However,
the reliability of the estimates from household and
establishment data sources may be affected by sample size which varies considerably among the different series. For example, the Census of Population employment data is based on approximately
15.3 milhon households while the Current Population Survey data are based on approximately 60,000
households. Agricultural employment and labor expenditure data from the Census of Agriculture are
collected from approximately 450,000 farms while
the Farm Costs and Returns Survey collects information from approximately 24,000 farms.
Administrative record data more likely approximate
a census count, even though both the Social
Security Farmworker Statistics and Federal Tax
Return employment data are obtained from
samples. However, the universe of the administrative record data may be limited because of
program definitions. The BLS Unemployment Insurance Covered Employment data, for example,
are collected only from those employers covered by
the Unemployment Insurance Program. The BEA
Employment and Income data include information
from employers covered by unemployment insurance supplemented with data from other sources
for farm proprietors and employers not covered by
unemployment insurance. County Business Patterns
collects information only from agricultural service
establishments required to contribute to Social
Security, and Social Security Farmworker Statistics
are collected only from farmworkers who are required to contribute to Social Security. However,
even if an agricultural employer is covered by a
" Although the Census of Agriculture and Decennial Census of
Population are called censuses of farms and U.S. households,
respectively, the employment data from these series are based on
samples.
particular program, some types of farmworkers may
be excluded due to program definitions.
Frequency of Collection
Certain data series, such as the Census of Population (taken every 10 years) and the Census of
Agriculture (taken every 5 years), are hmited in
their use by the infrequency of data collection (see
table 1). Other data series, such as the monthly Current Population Survey and the BLS Unemployment
Insurance Covered Employment data, offer the advantage of more timely monthly data collection.
Monthly data, for example, are often used to examine the shortrun effects of changes in weather,
economy, or production levels on agricultural
employment and expenditures. Annual data are
often used for allocating farmworker program
funds, assessing the economic well-being of farmworkers, and determining annual farm income.
With the exception of the Censuses of Population
and Agriculture, and the Hired Farm Working
Force Survey, all data series reviewed here collect
data on an annual or more frequent basis.
Age Criteria
Users should also be aware of different age criteria
used in collecting agricultural employment and expenditure data. Employment information from the
Census of Population, for example, is available for
all civilians 16 years and older; the Current Population Survey collects employment information for
those 14 years and older, but only pubUshes data
for those 16 years and older. Employment data
from establishment and administrative records are
generally reported for all workers regardless of age.
Employment Reference Period
The reference period for employment is important
when evaluating agricultural employment data. The
Census of Population collects employment information based on the week before enumeration,
generally the last week of March. The monthly Current Population Survey collects employment information each month based on 1 week containing the
12th day of the survey month. The Farm Labor
Survey collects information from farm employers 3
times a year (4 times for some areas) relating to the
7-day period Sunday through Saturday which contains the 12th day of the survey month. On the
other hand. County Business Patterns reports data
for agricultural service estabhshments based on
employment as of the pay period which contains
March 12th. The Hired Farm Working Force
Survey collects information on hired workers who
21
did farmwork at any time during the survey year.
The Census of Agriculture reports data on labor expenditures and number of workers employed over
the entire year, while most administrative data on
employment are available monthly.
Employment reference period probably has less effect on the number of self-employed workers or
farm operators than on unpaid and hired labor
whose employment is more susceptible to the
seasonality of agricultural production (29). Expenditure data collected from estabUshment surveys or
administrative records filed by farm employers
generally use a year as the reference period
although the BLS Unemployment Insurance
Covered Employment expenditure data are reported
on a quarterly basis.
22
Published Versus Other Available Data
While much of the agricultural employment data
from the sources described in this report are
published, more detailed information can be obtained from computerized files or through special
requests made to the responsible Federal agency.
Micro-level data which allow analysis of individual
records are available from the Decennial Census in
a 1- or 5-percent sample and from the Current
Population Survey. The Census of Agriculture data
are available on computerized tape, but do not
allow analysis of individual records. Several data
sources, the Farm Sector Productivity Data, BEA
Employment and Income data, and the Social
Security Farmworker Statistics, can only be obtained by special request.
References
(1)
(2)
Agricultural Employment Work Group.
Agricultural Lahor in the 1980's: A Survey with
Recommendations. U.S. Dept. Agriculture and
Division of Agricultural Sciences, University
of California, Berkeley, May 1982.
Association of Farmw^orker Opportunity Programs. Toward an Equitable CETA 303 Allocation Formula for Farmworkers: The Impact of
Definitions, Eligihility Criteria, and Data Bases.
Washington, D.C., July 1978.
(10) Krause, Kenneth R. Indirect Farm Labor and
Management Costs. AER-496. U.S. Dept. Agr.,
Econ. Res. Serv., 1983.
(11) Martin, Philip and Stanley S. Johnson.
"Tobacco Technology and Agricultural
Labor," American Journal of Agricultural
Economics, Vol. 60, No. 4 (Nov. 1978)
pp. 655-60.
(12) National Commission on Employment and
Unemployment Statistics. Counting the Labor
Force. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979.
(3}
Ball, V. Eldon. ''Measuring Agricultural Productivity, A New Look.'' Staff Report. No.
AGES840330. U.S. Dept. Agr., Econ. Res.
Serv., May 1984.
(13) Office of Management and Budget. Standard
Industrial Classification Manual. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972.
(4)
Coltrane, Robert. Immigration Reform and
Agricultural Labor. AER-510. U.S. Dept. Agr.,
Econ. Res. Serv., Apr. 1984.
(14) Pollack, Susan L. The Hired Farm Working
Force of 1983: A Statistical Profile. AER-554.
U.S. Dept. Agr., Econ. Res. Serv., June 1986.
(5)
Daberkow, Stan G. and Conrad F. Fritsch.
"Agricultural Workplace Safety: A Perspective
on Research Needs." American Journal of
Agricultural Economics, Vol. 61, No. 4
(Nov. 1979) pp. 824-35.
(15) Rochin, Refugio. ^'Farmworker Service and
Employment Programs," Seasonal Agricultural
Labor Markets in the United States. Ed. Robert
Emerson. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State Univ. Press.
1984.
(6)
Friedland, William H., Amy E. Barton, and
Robert J. Thomas. Manufacturing Green Gold:
The Conditions and Social Consequences of Lettuce Harvest Mechanization. California
Agricultural Policy Seminar Pub. No. 22.
Department of Apphed Behavioral Sciences,
University of CaUfornia, Davis. 1978.
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Appendix—Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)
The SIC was developed for classifying establishments by type of activity in vy^hich they are engaged; for the purpose of facilitating the collection,
tabulation, presentation, and analysis of data
relating to establishments; and for promoting
uniformity and comparability in the presentation of
statistical data collected by various agencies of the
Federal Government and others. The structure of
the classification makes it possible to tabulate and
analyze data in a 2-digit, a 3-digit, or a 4-digit industry classification category. The SIC categories
for the agricultural industry are identified at the 2,
3, and 4-digit levels as follows:
01 Agricultural production—crops
Oil—Cash grains
Olli Wheat
0112 Rice
0115 Corn
0116 Soybeans
0119 Cash grains, not elsewhere classified
013—Field crops, except cash grains
0131 Cotton
0132 Tobacco
0133 Sugar crops
0134 Irish potatoes
0139 Field crops, except cash grains, not
elsewhere classified
016—Vegetables and melons
0161 Vegetables and melons
017—Fruit and tree nuts
0171 Berry crops
0172 Grapes
0173 Tree nuts
0174 Citrus fruits
0175 Deciduous tree fruits
0179 Fruit and tree nuts, not elsewhere
classified
018—Horticultural specialties
0181 Ornamental floriculture and nursery
products
0182 Food crops grown under cover
0189 Horticultural specialties, not
elsewhere classified
019—General farms, primarily crop
0191 General farms, primarily crop
02 Agricultural production—livestock
021—Livestock, except dairy, poultry, and
animal specialties
0212
0213
0214
0219
Beef cattle, except feedlots
Oi
Hogs
Sheep and goats
General livestock, except dairy,
o
poultry, and animal specialties
2
024—Dairy farms
0241 Dairy farms
025—Poultry and eggs
0251 Broiler, fryer, and roaster chickens
0252 Chicken eggs
0253 Turkey and turkey eggs
0254 Poultry hatcheries
0259 Poultry and eggs, not elsewhere
classified
027—Animal specialties
0271 Fur-bearing animals and rabbits
0272 Horses and other equines
0279 Animal specialties, not elsewhere
classified
029—General farms, primarily livestock
0291 General farms, primarily livestock
07 Agricultural services
071—Soil preparation services
0711 Soil preparation services
072—Crop services
0721 Crop planting, cultivating, and
protection
0722 Crop harvesting, primarily by
machine
0723 Crop preparation services for
market, except cotton ginning
0724 Cotton ginning
0729 General crop services
074—Veterinary services
0741 Veterinary services for livestock, except animal specialties
0742 Veterinary services for animal
specialties
075—Animal services, except veterinary
0751 Livestock services, except services
for animal specialties
0752 Animal specialty services
076—Farm labor and management services
0761 Farm labor contractors and crew
leaders
0762 Farm management services
078—Landscape and horticultural services
0781 Landscape counseling and planning
0782 Lawn and garden services
0783 Ornamental shrub and tree services
Source: {13).
25
1022200106
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE
1301 NEW YORK AVENUE. N. W.
WASHINGTON, D. C. 20005-4788
@FedFRASER