NAWS 2015-16 Crop Farm Workers
The National Agricultural Worker Survey released data for FY15 and FY16 based on interviews with 5,342 crop workers employed on over 1,100 farms in January 2019.
Rural Migration Blog
February 2019
Walls, Caravans, and the Mexico-US Border
President Trump allowed nine of the 15 federal agencies to close on December 22, 2018 after Congress refused to appropriate $5.7 billion for construction of a wall on the Mexico-US border. The result was a 35-day government shutdown, the longest in modern times; the previous longest shutdown lasted 21 days in 1995.
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Farm Labor Shortages
There are many complaints of farm labor shortages; Google returns over nine million links for “farm labor shortage.” Most are media reports quoting farmers who say they cannot recruit enough workers to harvest perishable commodities before they lose value. Surveys find that a third of growers would like to hire more workers.
California: Higher Minimum Wages and Overtime
California's minimum wage rose to $12 an hour January 1, 2019 for employers with 26 or more workers, and will be $15 an hour for large employers after January 1, 2022. Some 2.3 million California workers earned less than $12 an hour in 2017.
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Immigration to Canada
Canada admitted 286,500 permanent residents in 2017, down from 286,400 in 2016. The immigrants admitted in 2017 included 56 percent in the economic stream, meaning that one member of the family achieved enough points to get an immigrant visa. Of the 159,300 points-test immigrants admitted in 2017, 57,800 arrived under the federal skilled worker program, 49,700 were provincial nominees, 22,300 were caregivers, and 29,500 were Quebec selections; Quebec selects its own immigrants.