May 2020
Nonmetro employment, Covid-19, and meatpacking
Rural or nonmetro areas did not rebound from the 2008-09 recession as fast as urban or metro areas. Employment fell five percent in both rural and urban areas between the end of 2007 and the end of 2009. By 2019, rural employment had not yet returned to its 2007 levels, while urban employment was 10 percent higher than in 2007.
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QCEW: Who employs California farm workers?
Who employs California’s farm workers? EDD publishes size-of-business data that group businesses or establishments by their number of employees.
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The H-2B Program in 2020
There are 66,000 H-2B visas a year available to US employers seeking foreign workers to fill seasonal nonfarm jobs, such as those in landscaping and gardening. Employers typically request over 100,000 H-2B visas, prompting Congress to authorize DHS to increase the number of visas available by 15,000 in FY17 and FY18 and by 30,000 in FY19.
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The H-2A Program in 2020
The H-2A program allows farm employers to request certification from the US Department of Labor to recruit and employ foreign workers to fill seasonal farm jobs, generally defined as those lasting up to 10 months. DOL certified 257,666 jobs to be filled with H-2A workers in FY19, when the top five H-2A states, Florida, Georgia, Washington, California, and North Carolina, accounted for over half of all H-2A jobs certified.
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Declining Seasonality in California Agriculture
California has fewer and larger farm employers today than in 2000, when 23,600 agricultural establishments hired an average 405,600 workers and paid $7.1 billion in wages, an average $30,000 per farm. In 2018, some 16,800 agricultural establishments hired an average 423,300 workers and paid $14.6 billion in wages, an average wage bill of $86,900 per farm.
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