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October Labor

NEW MEXICO-ARIZONA: There were 23,000 hired workers on farms and ranches in New Mexico and Arizona during the week of October 10th - 16th , 2004, up 28 percent from a year ago. Hours worked decreased 8.1 percent to an average of 44.0 hours per worker. Average wage rates for all hired workers declined by 43 cents from last year to $7.75 an hour. Wage rates for New Mexico and Arizona are well below the national average of $9.30 an hour.

UNITED STATES : There were 1,173,000 hired workers on the Nation's farms and ranches during the week of October 10-16, 2004, down 2 percent from a year ago. Of these hired workers, 851,000 workers were hired directly by farm operators. Agricultural service employees on farms and ranches made up the remaining 322,000 workers. Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $9.30 per hour during the October 2004 reference week, up 25 cents from a year earlier. Field workers received an average of $8.60 per hour, up 18 cents from last October, while livestock workers earned $8.91 per hour compared with $8.64 a year earlier. The field and livestock worker combined wage rate, at $8.67 per hour, was up 20 cents from last year. The number of hours worked averaged 40.5 hours for hired workers during the survey week, up 1 percent from a year ago.

Workers on Farms, Hours worked Per Week, and Wage Rates for All Hired Workers,
Selected Regions and U.S., October 2003-2004 1/
Mountain II 2/
Mountain III 3/
Southern Plains 4/
United States 5/
Oct 12-18 Oct 10-16 Oct 12-18 Oct 10-16 Oct 12-18 Oct 10-16 Oct 12-18 Oct 10-16
2003
2004
2003
2004
2003
2004
2003
2004
Workers on Farms --------------------------------------------------------------Thousands--------------------------------------------------------------
All Hired Workers 20 19 18 23 54 44 891 851
Hours Worked -----------------------------------------------------------Hours Per Week---------------------------------------------------------
All Hired Workers 41.5 41.6 47.9 44.0 41.7 40.3 40.2 40.5
Wages By Work Type -----------------------------------------------------------Dollars Per Hour--------------------------------------------------------
Field 8.11 8.32 7.16 7.03 7.12 8.44 8.42 8.60
Livestock 8.12 8.95 8.73 8.04 7.70 8.68 8.64 8.91
Field & Livestock 8.11 8.56 7.63 7.36 7.39 8.53 8.47 8.67
All Workers 8.97 9.40 8.18 7.75 8.01 9.34 9.05 9.30
1/ Excludes agricultural service workers. 2/ Mountain Region II consists of CO, NV & UT. 3/ Mountain Region III consists
of AZ & NM. 4/ Southern Plains region consists of OK & TX. 5/ Excludes AK.


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