The percentage of agricultural workers reporting that they had been doing farm work in the U.S. for more than 15 years jumped from approximately one-fifth of the population in 1999-2000 to just over one-third in 2013-2014. In 2013-2014, 15 percent of agricultural workers reported being employed by a farm-labor contractor at the time of interview, compared to 27 percent in 1999-2000, with the majority of agricultural workers in 2013-2014 reporting being directly employed by growers, nurseries, and packinghouses.
Average number of weeks spent doing farm work, non-farm work, not working, and abroad
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Data Table — Average number of weeks spent doing farm work, non-farm work, not working, and abroad
| Category | 99-00 | 01-02 | 03-04 | 05-06 | 07-08 | 09-10 | 11-12 | 13-14 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | # | # | # | # | # | # | # | |||||||||
| Doing farm work | 7,198 | 28.8 | 6,472 | 31.7 | 6,631 | 31.8 | 3,746 | 33.9 | 3,693 | 34.7 | 3,691 | 33.4 | 3,025 | 34.7 | 4,235 | 34.7 |
| Doing non-farm work | 7,198 | 3.3 | 6,472 | 4.6 | 6,631 | 4.4 | 3,746 | 3.2 | 3,693 | 4.2 | 3,691 | 7.1 | 3,025 | 6.9 | 4,235 | 6.3 |
| In the U.S. but not working | 7,198 | 7.0 | 6,472 | 7.4 | 6,631 | 9.2 | 3,746 | 7.4 | 3,693 | 8.1 | 3,691 | 9.7 | 3,025 | 9.1 | 4,235 | 9.4 |
| Abroad | 7,198 | 10.9 | 6,472 | 8.3 | 6,631 | 6.8 | 3,746 | 7.7 | 3,693 | 5.3 | 3,691 | 2.4 | 3,025 | 2.0 | 4,235 | 2.1 |
1 In 2007, the survey question changed from "What task are you working on?" to "Right before the interview, what task were you working on?", and this reduced the number of workers recorded as having multiple tasks (and coded in the "Other" category). Information on additional tasks performed at the employer was recorded elsewhere.
a Estimates with relative standard errors (RSEs) greater than 30 percent but no more than 50 percent are published but should be used with caution.
b Estimates based on fewer than four responses or with RSEs greater than 50 percent are considered statistically unreliable and are suppressed.