News stories report frequently on farm labor shortages and the calls of growers for federal government action to bolster supply with immigration policy change. The state role such intervention implies is not unusual, but it raises broader questions about the state’s contribution to labor supply through this and other policy mechanisms and about how labor supply, demand, and policy influence one another as they evolve. This dissertation answers these questions with a mixed-method study that describes the policy history and political factors shaping the structure of farm labor markets and traces the presence of policy in labor market processes in New York State. An analysis of National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) data captured trends in worker and job characteristics, showing a significant disparity between wages of undocumented and documented workers. U.S. Department of Labor records indicated that use of the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program increased sharply in New York and the U.S. from 2006 to 2009 and dropped in 2010. A review of the policy structure that shapes farm labor markets highlighted the historical evolution of agricultural exemptions and other industry-specific legislative provisions across labor standards, social programs, and immigration policy that have contributed to labor market segmentation. A review of Congressional hearings showed how interest groups have used this forum to justify reshaping policy, such that political debate serves the symbolic function of communicating to policymakers the parameters grower and worker interests will accept around the state’s role in supply and worker protection, and their expectations of the state going forward. Qualitative interviews in New York State with employers, workers, non-profit agencies, and government examined the role of the state in farm labor markets in two regions, demonstrating that social programs and labor standards, immigration enforcement, and the H-2A program work separately and in concert to shape decisions of actors, and thus over time labor supply characteristics and production and employment practices. In implementation, the role of policy in markets takes on different effects and interacts with other factors, demonstrating that markets are partially constructed by the state. The role of the state is to supply (directly or indirectly), sustain and protect labor, and to serve as intermediary, with ever-changing mechanisms and results. In addition, policy can mitigate risk for employers and influence the nature of labor demand. The dissertation concludes with a review of developments in worker advocacy and policy suggestions for moving beyond the seemingly obvious and intractable problems related to farm labor. These issues are also relevant for other kinds of low-wage and contingent labor markets in which recent trends parallel the long history of farm work. The discussion of new developments and policy proposals illustrates that it is possible and important to continue searching for ways to enhance worker agency and conditions for the benefit of the agriculture industry, but also in light of the broader implications of immigration and social policy for job quality and low-wage work.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Planning and Public Policy
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_3600
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
ix, 222 p. : ill., map
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Elizabeth Laird Nisbet
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
labor supply—Government policy--New York (State)
Subject (authority = lcsh/lcnaf)
Geographic
New York (State)—Emigration and immigration—Government policy
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Agricultural laborers--United States
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Agricultural wages—Law and legislation--United States
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.