The National Agricultural Workers Survey

Chapter 2: Demographics, Family Size, and Household Structure

DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF U.S. CROP WORKERS: GENDER, AGE AND MARITAL STATUS; FAMILY SIZE; HOUSEHOLD STRUCTURE

Farm workers were young: their average age was 33, and half were younger than 31.
Seventy-nine percent were men.
Fifty-seven percent were living apart from all nuclear family members when they were interviewed.

Seventy-nine percent of all crop workers, and 90 percent of the foreign-born newcomers, were men.^[6] Men were more likely than women to be unauthorized (56% vs. 39%) and were less likely than women to be U.S.-born (20% vs. 33%) (fig. 2.1).

Figure 2.1 Legal Status by Gender. Note: Sum of portions is not equal to 100 percent because of rounding.

Age

U.S. crop workers are relatively young: in 2001-2002 the average age for both men and women was 33. Half of all workers were less than age 31, and a small percentage were younger than 18 (6%) or older than 54 (7%) (fig. 2.2).

Figure 2.2 Age Distribution of Hired Crop Workers.

Age varied by legal status, place of birth and, among foreign-born workers, by the number of years since first arriving to the United States. In 2001-2002, unauthorized workers were, on average, ten years younger than authorized workers (28 and 38, respectively). Eighty percent of the unauthorized workers were less than 35, compared to only 40 percent of the authorized workers (fig. 2.3). Workers from Central American countries were, on average, younger than Mexico- and U.S.-born workers (28 vs. 32 and 36, respectively). Among U.S.-born workers, African Americans were the oldest (average age was 43), followed by Whites (36), and Hispanics (33). Among foreign-born workers, newcomers, were, on average, ten years younger than those who had arrived at least one year prior to being interviewed (24 vs. 34) (table 2.1).

Figure 2.3 Age Distribution by Legal Status. Note: Sum of portions is not equal to 100 percent because of rounding.

		Percentage of
Table 2.1 Average Age by Select Demographic Characteristics
Group	Average Age	Hired Crop Worker Population

All Crop Workers	33	100%
Foreign-born
All Foreign-born	32	77%

Authorized Foreign-born	40	24%
Unauthorized Foreign-born	28	53%

Newcomers	24	16%
Arrived more than year ago	34	61%

Born in Mexico	32	75%
Born in Central American country	28	2%

U.S.-born
All U.S.-born	36	23%
African American	43	4%
White	36	12%
Hispanic	33	7%

Marital Status and Family Type

Nearly three out of five (58%) crop workers interviewed in 2001-2002 were married, a larger share than in 1993-1994 (52%). Thirty-eight percent had never been married and five percent were either separated, divorced, or widowed. Women were slightly more likely than men to be married (59% vs. 57%, respectively).

Fifty-one percent of all farm workers, married or single, were parents, compared to 41 percent in 1993-1994. A little more than a third (37%) were single and without children, 12 percent were married without children, and six percent were unmarried parents (fig. 2.4).

Figure 2.4 Family Type.

In 2001-2002, parents employed in U.S. crop agriculture had an average of two children. Ninety-six percent of the children were minors (under the age of 18). Nearly a third of the parents (31%) had one child (fig. 2.5).

Figure 2.5 Number of Children of Hired Crop Farm Workers

Household Structure

In the NAWS, crop workers who are living apart from all nuclear family members (parents, spouse, and children) at the time of the interview are defined as "unaccompanied"; those who are living with at least one nuclear family member are "accompanied."^[7] In 2001-2002, 57 percent of all crop workers were unaccompanied. The majority of the unaccompanied (61%) were single workers who did not have children; 31 percent were parents and eight percent were married but without children.

Two-thirds (66%) of all parents and 71 percent of childless married workers were accompanied. Of the parents and married workers who were unaccompanied, almost nine out of ten (87%) had at least one child and/or a spouse living in Mexico; eight percent had nuclear family members in other parts of the United States, and four percent in other countries.

Living with nuclear family at the time of the interview varied by gender and legal status. Women were more than twice as likely (75%) as men (35%) to be accompanied. Among the parents, nearly all (97%) of the mothers were accompanied, compared to 55 percent of the fathers. Similarly, among childless married workers, 95 percent of the women and 62 percent of the men were living with their spouse at interview time. Several factors may be related to these differences: female farm workers were more likely than males to be U.S.-born (33% vs. 20%), and non-migrant (71% vs. 55%). Parents who had authorization to work in the United States were twice as likely to be accompanied as parents who lacked authorization (86% vs. 43%, respectively).

In 2001-2002, farm worker parents had an average of two minor children. Sixty-one percent of the parents were living with all of their minor children when they were interviewed; 37 percent were living apart from all of their minor children, and two percent were living with some. The likelihood of parents living away from all of their minor children increased with family size: parents who had five or more minor children were 33 percent more likely to live away from all of their children than were parents who had only one minor child (44% vs. 33%, respectively) (fig. 2.6).

Figure 2.6 Cohabitation of Farm Worker Parent and Minor Children.

Among parents, those most likely to be living apart from their minor children were men, migrants, Mexicans, and unauthorized workers. Among the migrant parents who were living away from all of their children, 85 percent were international migrants and 15 percent were domestic migrants (table 2.2).^[8]

Table 2.2 Migrant Types: Crop Workers Living Apart from their Children
	Migrant Type		Percent of Migrants
	Migrant Type		Percent of Migrants

	Total Migrants		100%

	International		85%
	Newcomer		35%
	Shuttle		43%
	Follow-the-crop		7%

	Domestic		15%
	Shuttle		6%
	Follow-the-crop		9%

Table of Contents