Oregon agricultural wages remain among highest in U.S.

By Bruce Pokarney

The Hillsboro Argus

The myth that Oregon agricultural workers are generally low paid doesn't quite square with the facts provided by a number of agencies tracking labor information. The truth is Oregon's farm workers and others employed by the industry are paid among the highest in the nation for similar type work.

Reasons include the specialty crops and jobs associated with Oregon's diverse agriculture as well as the fact that only the state of Washington has a higher minimum wage.

The latest statistics released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service give a snapshot for a one-week period in October, that shows Oregon and Washington farms and ranches employing 52,000 workers being paid an average of $10.85 an hour.

Only Hawaii, at $12.47 an hour, paid more during that week. The national average for the week was 90 cents lower than Oregon and Washington, at $9.95 an hour.

One year ago, Oregon and Washington paid all hired agricultural workers an average of $9.62 an hour - more than a dollar less an hour than the same period this year.

"The industry is clearly paying good employees for doing good work," said Brent Searle, special assistant to the director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture. "Compared to the rest of the country and compared to other countries that may compete with our producers, we are paying top wages."

The minimum wage in Oregon and Washington has something to do with the the amount of money being earned by agricultural workers. Washington has the highest minimum wage in the nation at $7.63 an hour, closely followed by Oregon at $7.50 an hour. In January, those rates will rise to $7.94 and $7.80 respectively.

By contrast, the federal minimum wage is currently set at $5.15 an hour and most states are well below the rate set by the Pacific Northwest states.

The number of on-farm employees in Oregon ranges from about 30,000 in the winter months to more than 90,000 during peak harvest seasons. A good portion of the work is year-round, particularly with dairies and nurseries providing many of the jobs.

"Following California, we are probably one of the most diverse areas of the country in terms of what we grow," Searle said. "We produce a lot of specialty crops that require intensive labor. Cultivation and harvest of vegetables, tree fruits, berries, and wine grapes require a great deal of specialized skill. Also, the nursery industry is Oregon's number one commodity and a very big employer with wages that tend to be relatively high in agriculture."

For Oregon, the diversity of agriculture and the variation within each commodity has resulted in some very good paying jobs within the industry.

"Agricultural employment is very diverse in Oregon, and includes food processing, warehousing, and transportation," Searle said. "But even within on-farm labor, it is very diverse. You have people involved with field work preparation, equipment operation, chemical application, trimming and pruning, harvesting, milking, animal care- even farm equipment mechanics who can earn as much as $20 an hour."

At the top end of on-farm wages are supervisory positions that pay in the range of $21 an hour. Tree and vineyard pruners can earn about $16 an hour. Chemical application workers average more than $15 an hour. Farm equipment operators earn more than $13 an hour.

At the low end of the scale, hand harvesting averages a bit more than nine dollars an hour, still considerably higher than Oregon's minimum wage.

Another myth not supported by the facts is that farmers themselves are getting rich while paying little to their hired help.

"Labor is the single largest expense category for farmers in Oregon at more than $880 million in 2005," Searle said. "It's a big cost for farmers that is almost equal to the net income farmers receive any given year. That means, in aggregate, what is paid to workers is virtually the same as what farmers, in aggregate, actually earn at the end of each year."