Hired Farm Workers in the United States

Excerpts from the report Introduction: Hired farm laborers and their families comprise approximately one-fourth of the agricultural population of the United States. The status, opportunities, and contributions of such a large segment of our agricultural population deserve more attention. In recent years, approximately 14 million individuals worked on farms all or a part of the year. Of these, approximately 5 million were hired workers, including sharecroppers. The major types of farm laborers are regular farm workers, sharecroppers, local seasonal farm workers and migratory seasonal farm workers. Women and children are important portions of all of these major types. Boys and girls from the families of farm operators and from rural and urban communities normally constitute an important part of both the regular and the seasonal hired workers. Their well-being is of the utmost concern, not only to agriculture but to the entire Nation. For the most part, women and children employed as hired farm workers are without the protection of labor laws applying to their employment in non- agricultural industries. Sharecroppers are classified as farm laborers since they usually occupy the same position as other types of farm labor and should be included in a hired farm labor program.

本报告引言节选：受雇农场劳工及其家属约占美国农业人口的四分之一。如此庞大的农业人口群体，其生存境况、发展机遇与社会贡献理应获得更多关注。近年来，全年或部分时段在农场务工的人员约达1400万，其中约500万为受雇劳工，涵盖分成佃农。农场劳工的主要类别包括固定农场工人、分成佃农、本地季节性农场工人与流动季节性农场工人，女性与儿童在上述各类劳工群体中均占据重要比例。来自农场经营者家庭以及城乡社区的男女青少年，通常是固定受雇劳工与季节性受雇劳工群体的重要组成部分。他们的福祉不仅是农业领域的核心关切，更关乎整个国家的发展。绝大多数受雇农场女工与童工，并未享受到非农产业雇佣劳工所受的劳动法律保护。鉴于分成佃农通常与其他类型农场劳工地位相当，且应被纳入受雇农场劳工保障体系，故将其归类为农场劳工。