California farm jobs / 73% of held by non-citizens, report says

California agriculture would suffer unless Congress overhauls the immigration system, the Obama administration said Monday in a renewed push to lobby for a Senate-approved measure that has the support of the Golden State’s farm lobby.

Seventy-three percent of California’s agricultural workers are non-citizens — the highest in any state — and a majority of them are undocumented workers, according to a White House report issued Monday. Washington state, where 60 percent of farm workers are non-citizens, and Florida, with 59 percent, round out the top three, according to the report, released the week before Congress is to leave for the summer.

During a conference call with reporters, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged Congress to pass an immigration overhaul bill that would grant legal status to undocumented farm laborers. Without them, California’s $34 billion agriculture industry would suffer, he said. Quoting from the report, Vilsack said California farmers could lose $1.7 billion to $3.1 billion if migrant workers are barred from working for them.

“You start looking at those numbers state-by-state (and) you recognize the economic impact on agriculture, and it then becomes common sense that it’s time to fix this broken system,” Vilsack said.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at 

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