Migratory Farmworkers in the Midcontinent Streams

Excerpts: The annual movement of migratory farm workers from southern Texas to seasonal work areas in more than 30 States appears to be an established phase of our agricultural economy. Yet the position of these workers in this broad labor market is precarious. Changes in production areas and in harvesting methods and competition from other sources of labor tend to shift the areas of need, to reduce the length of the work season, and to curtail the need for these workers. The migratory workers can be classified into three major groups of approximately equal size according to their range of movement. One group moves within the State only and engages chiefly in picking cotton. Another group migrates to the sugar-beet, vegetable, and fruit areas around the Great Lakes, in the Rocky Mountain area, or along the Pacific coast. The third group also works in these out-of-State areas but cuts its work there short in order to engage in the cotton harvest in Texas. Basic to any program affecting migratory farm labor is the need for more definite knowledge concerning the types of workers in the migratory labor force, where they migrate, how much work they obtain, and how much they earn. The survey on which this report is based attempts to answer these questions about the migratory workers who were in southern Texas during the winter of 1956-57.