The Hired Farm Working Force of 1970 – A Statistical Report

The Hired Farm Working Force of 1970 (HFWF) consisted of about 2.5 million persons 14 years of age and over who did some farmwork for cash wages during the year. This decline of 4 percent from the 2.6 million in 1969 reflects further utilization of farm laborsaving technology. Members of the 1970 HFWF were mostly young (median age 23), white (78 percent), male (76 percent), persons living in nonfarm places (73 percent). They earned an average of $887 in cash wages, or $11.10 a day for 80 days of farm wagework. Only 22 percent were engaged chiefly in farm wagework. Of these, 306,000 were year-round workers, who were the most fully employed and highest paid, averaging 318 days of farm wagework and earning $3,467. About 56 percent (primarily housewives and students) were not in the labor force most of the year. About 196,000, or 8 percent of the total, were domestic migratory workers. This was a-drop of 24 percent from 257,000 in 1969, while the remainder of the hired farmworkers declined by only 1 percent