The number of workers paid by farmers and agricul tural services totaled 70,000 for the week of April 12 through 18. Farmers hired 57,000 workers compared with 51,000 in January 1998 and 60,000 in April 1997. Agricultural services hired 13,000 compared with 16,000 last quarter and 13,000 a year ago. Field preparation for spring planted crops was active during the survey week. Dry conditions allowed vegetable work to progress normally. Valencia harvest for processing was very active. Movement of seedless grapefruit was most active on the lower East Coast.
    The April 1998 all hired worker wage rate averaged $7.72 per hour, 69 cents or nearly nine percent below the $8.41 per hour paid last quarter, but 33 cents or four percent above the April 1997 wage of $7.39 per hour. Farmers paid an average of $7.57 per hour, 65 cents below the $8.22 paid last quarter, but 38 cents above the $7.19 paid last year. Agricultural services paid workers an average of $8.40 per hour compared with $9.20 paid last quarter and $8.44 paid last year.

    There were 1,005,000 hired workers on the Nation's farms and ranches the week of April 12-18, 1998, down 1 percent from a year ago. There were 803,000 workers hired directly by farm operators. Agricultural service employees on farms and ranches made up the remaining 202,000 workers. Migrant workers accounted for 6.6 percent of the April hired workforce compared to 6.3 percent last year.

    Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $7.50 per hour during the April 1998 survey week, up 47 cents from a year earlier. Field workers received an average of $7.00 per hour, up 36 cents. Livestock workers earned $6.99 per hour compared with $6.40 a year earlier.

    During the survey week rain continued to delay spring field preparations, and muddy fields delayed the traditional beginning of the corn-planting season across most of the Cornbelt. Strong thunderstorms caused localized flooding and delayed fieldwork in parts of the Southeast. In the Central and Northern Plains, rainfall was considerably lighter, allowing farmers to make substantial progress in their fields. Fieldwork also advanced in the Delta States. The Southern Plains and most of Florida remained dry. Farmers in the Northeast enjoyed dry weather most of the week and made rapid progress preparing fields for planting.
    Weather conditions in California and the Southwest improved slightly, but continued wet soils and unseasonably low temperatures caused delays in planting the cotton crop. Field activities in California gradually resumed during the week as drier conditions and warmer weather prevailed in most areas. Seedbed preparations for planting corn, cotton, and dry beans were slowly increasing as soils dried. Sugar beets were thinned and hand weeded in the San Joaquin Valley while they were harvested in the Imperial Valley. Normal cultural activities continued in orchards and vineyards. Navel orange picking was winding down, while Valencia orange picking gathered momentum. Grapefruit, lemons, and tangerines were also harvested. Vegetable fieldwork increased as fields dried. Spring melon harvest progressed in the Imperial and Coachella Valleys.

    In Texas, land preparation and planting operations were active for most of the week in the Plains. Cultivation and chemical applications occurred in most other areas. Cotton land preparations were mostly complete in the Plains. Produc ers were cultivating fields in the Coastal Bend area. In the Rio Grande Valley, irrigation activity remained steady due to prolonged dry conditions.

Table 1 -- Florida agricultural workers, number of workers, wage rates, and hours worked, April 12 through 18, 1998, with comparisons
Employer, Year, and survey week	Hired by farm operators
	Number of workers			Hours Worked Per Week	Wages Paid by Type of Work
	All	Expected to work			All	Field	Livestock
		150 days or more	149 days or less
HIRED BY FARMERS		Thousands		Hours	Dollars Per Hour 1/
1998
April 12 - 18	57 .0	43 .0	14 .0	39 .9	7.57	6.75	7.20
January 11 - 17	51 .0	41 .0	10 .0	38 .3	8.22	7.45	8.00
1997
October 12 - 18	*45 .0	41 .0	*4 .0	*39 .9	7 .75	7.10	*7 .65
July 6 - 12	40 .0	36 .0	4 .0	41 .5	7 .60	6.71	6 .60
April 6 - 12	60 .0	52 .0	8 .0	41 .0	7 .19	6.51	6 .30
January 12 - 18	56 .0	46 .0	10 .0	35 .7	7 .45	6.80	6 .80
1996
October 6 - 12	45 .0	40 .0	5 .0	37 .0	7.35	6.31	6.65
July 7 - 13	43 .0	38 .0	5 .0	37 .7	7.39	6.45	7.10
April 7 - 13	50 .0	43 .0	7 .0	38 .5	7.05	6.12	7.10
HIRED BY AGRICULTURAL SERVICES
1998
April 12 - 18	13 .0			40 .0	8.40
January 11 - 17	16 .0			30 .0	9.20
1997
October 12-18	5 .7			27 .2	8.29
July 6 - 12	4 .0			39 .5	8.10
April 6 - 12	13 .0			36 .0	8.44
January 12 - 18	15 .8			37 .0	8.05
1996
October 6 - 12	7 .0			24 .0	7.30
July 7 - 13	3 .5			43 .5	2/
April 7 - 13	10 .0			31 .5	7.68
HIRED BY BOTH FARMERS & AGRICULTURAL SERVICES
1998
April 12 - 18	70 .0				7.72
January 11 - 17	67 .0				8.41
1997
October 12 - 18	*50 .7				7.79
July 6 - 12	44 .0				7.64
April 6 - 12	73 .0				*7.39
January 12 - 18	71 .8				7 .59
1996
October 6 - 12	51 .9				7.35
July 7 - 13	46 .5				2/
April 7 - 13	60 .0				7.14
1/ Benefits, such as housing and meals, are provided some workers but the values are not included in the wage rates. 2/ Insufficient data. * Revised.

Table 2 -- Number of workers hired by farmers, wage rates, and hours worked, selected States, April 12 through 18, 1998, with comparisons 1/
Item	Florida	California	Texas & Oklahoma	Arizona & New Mexico	Hawaii	United States 2/
	Thousands
All hired workers
April 12 - 18, 1998	57	194	58	19	7	803
January 11 - 17, 1998	51	180	52	17	7	661
April 6 - 12, 1997	60	171	55	16	6	*808
Expected to work     150 days or more
April 12 - 18, 1998	43	147	47	15	6	619
January 11 - 17, 1998	41	136	44	15	6	528
April 6- 12, 1997	52	147	44	14	5	*654
149 days or less
April 12 - 18, 1998	14	47	11	4	1	184
January 11 - 17, 1998	10	44	8	2	1	133
April 6 - 12, 1997	8	24	11	2	1	154
	Dollars per hour 3/
All hired worker wage rate
Apirl 12 - 18, 1998	7 .57	7 .87	6 .72	7 .02	10 .43	7 .50
January 11 - 17, 1998	8 .22	7 .38	7 .04	7 .34	10 .24	7 .61
April 6 - 12, 1998	7 .19	7 .35	5 .98	6 .24	9 .98	*7 .03
Wages by type of worker     Field & Livestock
Apirl 12 - 18, 1998	6 .78	7 .39	6 .25	6 .36	8 .95	7 .00
January 11 - 17, 1998	7 .49	6 .85	6 .61	6 .63	8 .84	6 .98
April 6 - 12, 1997	6 .49	6 .99	5 .57	5 .81	8 .82	*6 .57
Field
Apirl 12 - 18, 1998	6 .75	7 .30	6 .20	6 .32	9 .06	7 .00
January 11 - 17, 1998	7 .45	6 .62	6 .59	6 .63	8 .88	6 .99
April 6 - 12, 1997	6 .51	6 .90	5 .37	5 .78	8 .81	6 .64
Livestock
Apirl 12 - 18, 1998	7 .20	8 .08	6 .29	6 .52	4/	6 .99
January 11 - 17, 1998	8 .00	8 .36	6 .65	6 .61	4/	6 .97
April 6 - 12, 1997	6 .30	8 .06	5 .78	5 .90	4/	6 .40
	Average hours per week
Hours worked by all hired workers
Apirl 12 - 18, 1998	39 .9	42 .7	39 .7	42 .5	35 .2	40 .0
January 11 - 17, 1998	38 .3	38 .9	38 .5	42 .0	35 .3	36 .6
April 6 - 12, 1997	41 .0	45 .1	40 .6	43 .2	37 .6	*40 .4
1/ Excludes Agricultural Service workers. 2/ United States excludes Alaska. 3/ Value of any perquisites provided are not included in wage rates. 4/ Insufficient data for this category; included in all hired wages. *Revised.

    These data were collected by the National Agricultural Statistics Service during the last two weeks of April using sampling procedures to ensure every employer of agricultural workers had a chance of being selected.

    Two samples of farm operators are selected. First, NASS maintains a list of farms that hire farm workers. Farms on this list are classified by size and type. Those expected to employ large numbers of workers are selected with greater frequency than those hiring few or no workers. A second sample consists of segments of land scientifically selected from an area sampling frame. Each June, highly trained interviewers locate each selected land segment and identify every farm operating land within the sample segment's boundaries. The names of farms found in these area segments are matched against the list of farms; those not found on the list are included in the labor survey sample to represent all farms not on the NASS list. This methodology is known as multiple frame sampling, with an area sample used to measure the incompleteness of the list. Additionally, a list of agricultural service firms was sampled in California and Florida. The survey reference week was April 12 - 18, 1998.