Methods for Identifying the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Workforce Population - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 291

TABLE E-1 Directly Hired Farm Workers and Agricultural Service Workers in the
United States, 2006

Workers, 150
Days or More

Workers, Less
Than 150 Days

Agricultural
Service Workers

Total, All Hired
Farm Workers Week

Jan. 8-14, 2006 512,000 102,000 180,000 794,000

Apr. 9-15, 2006 581,000 139,000 241,000 961,000

Jul. 9-15, 2006 630,000 246,000 320,000 1,196,000

Oct. 8-14, 2006 592,000 205,000 280,000 1,077,000

SOURCE: USDA, Farm Labor.
See http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=063 .

17-year period (Levine, 2007). Table E-1 presents the latest findings of the FLS,
covering all 4 sampling weeks of 2006. It is possible that some individual workers
may be double-counted because they performed jobs for two or more employers
during a sampling week, but effect is probably small, especially because a majority
of the reported employment is accounted for by persons working directly for farm
operators for 150 days or more (sometimes described as regular or permanent
employees).

NATIONAL CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING

The most comprehensive effort to enumerate the U.S. population and its
characteristics is the decennial Census of Population and Housing (commonly re-
ferred to as the Census). The Census is important in its own right but also because
additional surveys—such as the Current Population Survey (CPS), the American
Community Survey (ACS), and the Hired Farm Work Force Report—have relied
on its sample frame. The Census 2000 Special Equal Employment Opportunity
(EEO) Tabulation also relied entirely on an analysis of Census data and provided
detailed occupation and education data.
As further described below, the Census data and surveys based on its sample
frame are probably accurate with respect to self-employed workers in the AFF sec-
tor and for most regular or year-round workers in this sector. However, it is well
established that the Census does not accurately enumerate a great many hired and
contract farm laborers, as was officially delineated by its senior administrator in
1994. 3 Scholarship has also demonstrated that deficiency (Gabbard et al., 1993).

3 Letter from Everett M. Ehrlich, Administrator, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce, October 24, 1994.