US, Mexico Increasingly Competing for Farm Labor Miriam Jordan - WSJ.com
go to original January 30, 2015

Alejandrina Castillo, 12, picks chile peppers near Teacapan, Sinaloa. An estimated 100,000 children toil in Mexican fields for pay. (Don Bartletti/The Los Angeles Times)

The U.S. and Mexico are increasingly competing for a dwindling supply of farm labor, according to a new analysis, a development that likely will have long-term implications for the U.S. agricultural sector.

The majority of hired farmworkers in the U.S., estimated at around 1 million, are Mexican, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In California, Mexican migrants account for 90% of hired workers, according to independent estimates. But the pool of Mexican agricultural workers is steadily declining, with no indication that it will be reversed, according to J. Edward Taylor, professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California, Davis.

The decline mainly results from changes in rural Mexico, including shrinking birthrates and a rise in the availability of education. There are also more jobs in nonagricultural sectors in Mexico as the economy there improves.

To meet its needs, Mexico has been importing farm workers from Guatemala, said Mr. Taylor. “Mexico is both an exporter and importer of farm workers,” he said at an immigration conference last week.

Read the rest at WSJ.com

Related: Produce Industry Promises to Improve Mexican Farmworker Conditions

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