IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cdl/indrel/qt8nb89219.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Why Do Fewer Agricultural Workers Migrate Now?

Author

Listed:
  • Fan, Maoyong
  • Gabbard, Susan
  • Pena, Anita Alves
  • Perloff, Jeffrey M

Abstract

The share of agricultural workers who migrate within the United States has fallen by approximately 60% since the late 1990s. To explain this decline in the migration rate, we estimate annual migration - choice models using data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey for 1989 – 2009. On average over the last decade of the sample, one - third of the fall in the migration rate was due to changes in the demographic composition of the workforce, while two - thirds was due to changes in coefficients (“structural” change). In some years, demographic changes were responsible for half of the overall change.

Suggested Citation

  • Fan, Maoyong & Gabbard, Susan & Pena, Anita Alves & Perloff, Jeffrey M, 2014. "Why Do Fewer Agricultural Workers Migrate Now?," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt8nb89219, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
  • Handle: RePEc:cdl:indrel:qt8nb89219
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/8nb89219.pdf;origin=repeccitec
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gabbard, Susan M. & Mines, Richard & Perloff, Jeffrey M., 1991. "A Comparison of the CPS and NAWS Surveys of Agricultural Workers," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt1cx6t9h9, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    2. Mark D. Partridge & Dan S. Rickman, 2006. "An SVAR Model of Fluctuations in U.S. Migration Flows and State Labor Market Dynamics," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(4), pages 958-980, April.
    3. Philip Martin, 2013. "Immigration and Farm Labor: Policy Options and Consequences," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(2), pages 470-475.
    4. Elder, Todd E. & Goddeeris, John H. & Haider, Steven J., 2010. "Unexplained gaps and Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 284-290, January.
    5. Manuela Angelucci & Orazio Attanasio & Vincenzo Di Maro, 2012. "The Impact of Oportunidades on Consumption, Savings and Transfers," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 33(3), pages 305-334, September.
    6. Wayne A. Cornelius, 2001. "Death at the Border: Efficacy and Unintended Consequences of US Immigration Control Policy," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 27(4), pages 661-685, December.
    7. J. Edward Taylor, 1992. "Earnings and Mobility of Legal and Illegal Immigrant Workers in Agriculture," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 74(4), pages 889-896.
    8. Genti Kostandini & Elton Mykerezi & Cesar Escalante, 2014. "The Impact of Immigration Enforcement on the U.S. Farming Sector," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(1), pages 172-192.
    9. Stephen R. Boucher & Aaron Smith & J. Edward Taylor & Antonio Yúnez-Naude, 2007. "Impacts of Policy Reforms on the Supply of Mexican Labor to U.S. Farms: New Evidence from Mexico," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 29(1), pages 4-16.
    10. Stark, Oded & Taylor, J Edward, 1991. "Migration Incentives, Migration Types: The Role of Relative Deprivation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(408), pages 1163-1178, September.
    11. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    12. Jeffrey M. Perloff, 1991. "The Impact of Wage Differentials on Choosing to Work in Agriculture," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 73(3), pages 671-680.
    13. Philip Martin & Linda Calvin, 2010. "Immigration Reform: What Does It Mean for Agriculture and Rural America?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 32(2), pages 232-253.
    14. Dennis, Benjamin N. & Iscan, Talan B., 2007. "Productivity growth and agricultural out-migration in the United States," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 52-74, March.
    15. Jeffrey M. Perloff & Lori Lynch & Susan M. Gabbard, 1998. "Migration of Seasonal Agricultural Workers," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(1), pages 154-164.
    16. Tom Hertz & Steven Zahniser, 2013. "Is There A Farm Labor Shortage?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(2), pages 476-481.
    17. Oded Stark & J. Taylor, 1989. "Relative deprivation and international migration oded stark," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 26(1), pages 1-14, February.
    18. J. Edward Taylor, 1987. "Undocumented Mexico—U.S. Migration and the Returns to Households in Rural Mexico," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 69(3), pages 626-638.
    19. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    20. Robert D. Emerson, 1989. "Migratory Labor and Agriculture," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 71(3), pages 617-629.
    21. Stephen R. Boucher & Aaron Smith & J. Edward Taylor & Antonio Yúnez-Naude, 2007. "Impacts of Policy Reforms on the Supply of Mexican Labor to U.S. Farms: New Evidence from Mexico," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 29(1), pages 4-16.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Osti, Surendra & Bampasidou, Maria & Fannin, J. Matthew, 2018. "Revisiting Farm efficiency of Rice-Crawfish farmers: Accounting for the H-2A program," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274339, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Marcelo Castillo & Diane Charlton, 2023. "Housing booms and H‐2A agricultural guest worker employment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(2), pages 709-731, March.
    3. Wang, Sun Ling & Hoppe, Robert A & Hertz, Thomas & Xu, Shicong, 2022. "Farm Labor, Human Capital, and Agricultural Productivity in the United States," Economic Research Report 327178, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    4. Rutledge, Zach & Richards, Timothy & Martin, Philip, 2023. "Adverse Effect Wage Rates and US Farm Wages," 2024 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 5-7, 2024, San Antonio, Texas 339074, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Christiaensen, Luc & Rutledge, Zachariah & Taylor, J. Edward, 2020. "The Future of Work in Agriculture - Some Reflections," Jobs Group Papers, Notes, and Guides 32012537, The World Bank.
    6. Chenarides, Lauren & Richards, Timothy & Rickard, Bradley, 2021. "COVID-19 Impact on Fruit and Vegetable Markets: One Year Later," Working Papers 309965, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    7. Charlton, Diane & Castillo, Marcelo J. & Hertz, Thomas, 2018. "Explaining the Growth in Agricultural Guest Worker Demand," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274171, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Ifft, Jennifer & Jodlowski, Margaret, 2016. "Is ICE Freezing US Agriculture? The Impact of Local Immigration Enforcement on Farm Profitability and Structure," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235950, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Castillo, Marcelo & Charlton, Diane, 2021. "Housing Booms and H-2A Agricultural Guest Worker Employment," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315322, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. Lauren Chenarides & Timothy J. Richards & Bradley Rickard, 2021. "COVID‐19 impact on fruit and vegetable markets: One year later," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 69(2), pages 203-214, June.
    11. Bradford L. Barham & Ana P. Melo & Thomas Hertz, 2020. "Earnings, Wages, and Poverty Outcomes of US Farm and Low‐Skill Workers," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(2), pages 307-334, June.
    12. Devadoss, Stephen & Luckstead, Jeff, 2017. "Immigration Policies and Farm Labor," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258435, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Wang, Sun Ling & Hoppe, Robert A. & Hertz, Thomas & Xu, Shicong, 2022. "Farm Labor, Human Capital, and Agricultural Productivity in the United States," USDA Miscellaneous 323858, United States Department of Agriculture.
    14. Christiaensen, Luc & Rutledge, Zachariah & Taylor, J. Edward, 2021. "Viewpoint: The future of work in agri-food," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    15. Ifft, Jennifer & Jodlowski, Margaret, 2022. "Is ICE freezing US agriculture? Farm-level adjustment to increased local immigration enforcement," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    16. Njuki, Eric, 2021. "Nonlinear weather and climate-induced effects on hired farm labor wages: Evidence from the U.S. Cornbelt," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313959, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    17. Richards, Timothy J., 2018. "Immigration Reform and Farm Labor Markets," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274165, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Charlton, Diane & Kostandini, Genti, 2018. "How Agricultural Producers Adjust to a Shrinking Farm Labor Supply," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274169, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Zach Conrad & Christian J. Peters & Kenneth Chui & Lisa Jahns & Timothy S. Griffin, 2017. "Agricultural Capacity to Increase the Production of Select Fruits and Vegetables in the US: A Geospatial Modeling Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-15, September.
    20. Win, Myat Thida & Rutledge, Zachariah & Maredia, Mywish K., 2023. "Labor Shortages and Farmer Adaptation Strategies," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335904, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    21. Rutledge, Zachariah & Richards, Timothy J., 2023. "Health Coverage and Farmworker Productivity," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335436, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sloczynski, Tymon, 2020. "Interpreting OLS Estimands When Treatment Effects Are Heterogeneous: Smaller Groups Get Larger Weights," IZA Discussion Papers 13283, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Annabelle Krause & Ulf Rinne & Simone Schüller, 2015. "Kick It Like Özil? Decomposing the Native-Migrant Education Gap," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 757-789, September.
    3. Amelie F. Constant & Annabelle Krause & Ulf Rinne & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2017. "Reservation wages of first- and second-generation migrants," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(13), pages 945-949, July.
    4. Daniela Piazzalunga & Maria Laura Di Tommaso, 2019. "The increase of the gender wage gap in Italy during the 2008-2012 economic crisis," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(2), pages 171-193, June.
    5. repec:zbw:rwirep:0263 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Grace Melo & Gregory Colson & Octavio A. Ramirez, 2014. "Hispanic American Opinions toward Immigration and Immigration Policy Reform Proposals," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 36(4), pages 604-622.
    7. Yun Liang & John Gibson, 2017. "Location or Hukou: What Most Limits Fertility of Urban Women in China?," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(3), pages 527-540, September.
    8. Sonja C. Kassenboehmer & Mathias G. Sinning, 2014. "Distributional Changes in the Gender Wage Gap," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(2), pages 335-361, April.
    9. Marcelo Castillo & Diane Charlton, 2023. "Housing booms and H‐2A agricultural guest worker employment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(2), pages 709-731, March.
    10. Maria M. Campos & Domenico Depalo & Evangelia Papapetrou & Javier J. Pérez & Roberto Ramos, 2017. "Understanding the public sector pay gap," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-29, December.
    11. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Tan, Michelle, 2011. "Noncognitive skills, occupational attainment, and relative wages," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 1-13, January.
    12. Aleksandra Majchrowska & Paweł Strawiński & Karolina Konopczak & Agnieszka Skierska, 2014. "Why are women paid less than men? An investigation into gender wage gap in Poland," Working Papers 2014-31, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    13. Aleksandra Majchrowska & Pawel Strawinski & Karolina Konopczak & Agnieszka Skierska, 2015. "Gender wage gap by occupational groups in Poland," Lodz Economics Working Papers 3/2015, University of Lodz, Faculty of Economics and Sociology.
    14. Caliendo, Marco & Lee, Wang-Sheng & Mahlstedt, Robert, 2017. "The gender wage gap and the role of reservation wages: New evidence for unemployed workers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 161-173.
    15. Juan F. Castro, 2015. "Linear decompositions of cognitive achievement gaps a cautionary note and an illustration using peruvian data," Working Papers 15-08, Centro de Investigación, Universidad del Pacífico.
    16. Lawrence M. Berger & Sara S. McLanahan, 2011. "Child Wellbeing in Two-Parent Families: How Do Characteristics and Relationships Matter?," Working Papers 1322, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    17. Zachariah Rutledge & Pierre Mérel, 2023. "Farm labor supply and fruit and vegetable production," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(2), pages 644-673, March.
    18. Dasgupta, Sukti. & Bhula-or, Ruttiya. & Fakthong, Tiraphap., 2015. "Earnings differentials between formal and informal employment in Thailand," ILO Working Papers 994896403402676, International Labour Organization.
    19. Arland Thornton & Prem Bhandari & Jeffrey Swindle & Nathalie Williams & Linda Young-DeMarco & Cathy Sun & Christina Hughes, 2020. "Fatalistic Beliefs and Migration Behaviors: A Study of Ideational Demography in Nepal," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(4), pages 643-670, August.
    20. John P. Haisken-DeNew & Maren M. Michaelsen, 2011. "Migration Magnet: The Role of Work Experience in Rural-Urban Wage Diff erentials in Mexico," Ruhr Economic Papers 0263, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    21. Nong ZHU, 2001. "Impacts of Income Gap on Migration Decision in China," Working Papers 200117, CERDI.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social and Behavioral Sciences; migration; agricultural workers; demographics;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdl:indrel:qt8nb89219. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Lisa Schiff (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/irucbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.