Myths about Immigrant Dairy Farm Workers
By Richard Stup
Many people are misinformed about the employment of immigrant (mainly Hispanic) farm workers in agriculture. In the dairy industry at least, Hispanic farm workers have almost exactly the same employment situations as their counterparts from the local population.
Myth #1: Immigrant farm workers are low paid. Farming is not a get-rich-quick scheme but dairy farm wages are competitive with many other industries. Cornell research from 2004 placed average cash wages for dairy workers at $7.51 in New York. An informal survey done in Pennsylvania… at the same time found cash wages at about $8 to $8.50. These rates compared favorably with entry level jobs in retail and service industries at the time. Most immigrant workers also receive housing and other benefits in addition to the cash wage.
Myth #2: Immigrant farm workers do not pay taxes. These workers are hired in exactly the same way as all other employees. Taxes are withheld for local, state, and federal payments.
Myth #3. Immigrant farm workers do not pay into Social Security. On the contrary, these workers pay into the system, but they may never collect from it. If an employee is using a false social security number then he or she may never collect the money paid in.
Myth #4: Immigrant farm workers are abused. Isolated cases of abuse occur, as in any population. However, there is an active market for farm workers. Employers have to be fair and strive to create a good working atmosphere and good conditions in order to retain employees. Dairy farmers work hard to create a friendly working environment and promote inter-cultural understanding.
Myth #5: Immigrant farm workers are paid under the table. Their employment is regularly reported and documented to the appropriate authorities.
Myth #6: Immigrant farm workers take jobs from local people. It is possible that the availability of immigrant workers could take away some farm employment opportunities for local people. Farmers maintain, however, that it is nearly impossible to find enough willing workers to fill entry-level farm jobs in the local population. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate in April 2007 was 3.8%. This low unemployment rate means that there are very few people looking for work. Without immigrant workers it would be extremely difficult for farms to find enough people to fill the jobs essential to our food supply.
Myth #7: Immigrant farm workers don’t learn English. Learning another language is difficult for many people, especially as we get older. There are many immigrant workers taking advantage of English learning opportunities with the support of their farm employers. Immigrants with young children find that the kids rapidly learn English and sometimes struggle to speak Spanish.
After dispelling some myths, it is also important to consider a few facts.
Fact #1: Long hours. Most immigrant farm workers work many hours per week, often in the range of 60 to 80 hours. There are definite concerns about people working so many hours. Workers often demand to work long hours because they want to earn as much money as possible to send to family members in their native countries, and so that they can return home more quickly.
Fact #2: Employment documentation is a problem. It is true that many immigrant farm workers have falsified documents. A black market exists where these documents can be purchased, and the fake ones look just like the real ones. Employers are required to review documents to determine identity and employment eligibility, they are also not permitted to discriminate if the documents appear legitimate. The current state of documentation in this country makes it very difficult for employers to determine who is authorized to work and who is not.
Clearly, we have problems with the current immigrant farm worker situation in this country. We should not have people purchasing and using falsified documents to gain employment. Likewise, farmers should not be forced to play detective when deciding which papers are real and which are false. Reform of our system, however, should be based on facts and not on myths.