Analysis of the Operation of the Wage Ceiling in the Asparagus Industry, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, 1943

Excerpts from the report Introduction: Wage ceilings for cutting, washing, hand-racking, and boxing asparagus in the delta area of California were issued by the Food Production Administration on April 12, 1943. This was the first order of the kind that had ever been issued in regard to agricultural wages and there was considerable speculation as to what the effect might be. The usual task of governmental agencies had been to set minimum rather than maximum wage levels, but the Emergency Price Control Act, of October 2, 1942, established authority in the Director of Economic Stabilization to prevent rises in farm-wage levels. This authority was delegated to Department of Agriculture and was now being exercised for the first time. Wages and other costs in the asparagus industry had risen so high as to make it impossible for some growers to harvest their crop with any profit. These wages were also out of line with those in other agricultural occupations and produced an upward spiraling effect on farm wages in the area. High asparagus wages were largely due to these factors: (1) The scarcity of labor for carrying on asparagus operations, (2) high prices for asparagus, (3) the necessity of cutting asparagus each day over a 3-month period, and (4) the fact that both growers and laborers were inclined to bid up wage levels.