Please use these points in your calls against the AgJOBS amnesty proposal!

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Farm Worker Shortage?

New Backgrounder Looks at Agricultural Labor Force

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new Backgrounder from the Center for Immigration Studies challenges assertions by farmers and the media that crops are rotting in the fields for lack of workers. The paper, "Farm Labor Shortages: How Real? What Response?," written by economist Philip Martin, examines workers' wages, farmers' earnings, and the prospects of mechanization.

The Center for Immigration Studies will release the report at a telephone press conference on Monday, November 5 at 11 a.m. (Eastern time), featuring Martin, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California, Davis.

Advance copies of the report will be available to the media. To RSVP
for the Monday teleconference, contact Bryan Griffith at press@ cis.org by
noon Friday, November 2. To be included in the teleconference, provide your full name, e-mail address and telephone number in your RSVP e-mail. On Friday, November 2, you will receive an e-mail invitation confirming your RSVP and providing instructions for participation in the teleconference.

Among the report's findings:

-- Neither worker recruitment, wages, nor benefits have risen to a
degree suggesting a strong need for more labor.

-- Farmers' production of labor-intensive fruits and vegetables has
expanded despite farmers' claims of a "labor shortage."

-- Farm worker earnings represent a tiny share of the overall cost of
fresh fruits and vegetables, so even a substantial increase in wages could
not have a major effect on retail prices.

-- The government has an important role to play in facilitating
mechanization.

SOURCE Center for Immigration Studies

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stori ... 821&EDATE=