Agriculture Hirings Down While Wages Move Higher

According to NASS, Ag workers hired in October slipped 7%, while wage rates increased 8%.  Roughly 784,000 workers were hired directly by farm operators nationally during the 2^nd week of October, which is off from the same time period a year earlier.  That’s also a decrease from 843,000 workers hired nationally in July.

NASS said farm operators paid their hired workers on average, $14.47 an hour last month, which is 8% more than wages reported in October 2017.  Field workers received an average of $13.74 per hour, an increase of 7 %.  Livestock workers earned $13.38 per hour, up 9%.  The field and livestock worker combined wage rate, at $13.64 per hour, was up 8% from the 2017.

Hired laborers worked an average of 41.5 hours during the October 2018 reference week, down slightly from the hours worked during the October 2017 reference week.  The 2018 all hired worker annual average wage rate was $14.17 per hour, up 6% from the 2017 annual average wage.

The 2018 field worker annual average wage rate was $13.32 per hour, up 6% from the 2017 annual average. The 2018 annual average combined wage for field and livestock workers was $13.25, up 6% from the 2017 annual average of $12.47 per hour.

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