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Immigration: The Labor Market Effects of a Guest Worker Program for U.S. Farmers , Record No.: 95-712 E, Date: February 20, 2004 1 (February 20, 2004)

handle is hein.tera/crser0202 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code 95-712 E Updated February 20, 2004 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Immigration: The Labor Market Effects of a Guest Worker Program for U.S. Farmers Linda Levine Specialist in Labor Economics Domestic Social Policy Division Summary Temporary alien worker programs are meant to assure employers, including growers, of an adequate supply of labor when and where it is needed without adding permanent residents to the U.S. population. Guest worker programs are not supposed to harm the wage and job opportunities of U.S. workers while they alleviate spot labor shortages. President Bush's proposal of a broad guest worker program has reignited interest in legislation introduced during the 108th Congress that relates specifically to the agricultural industry. According to the few economic analyses available concerning the Bracero program - the largest, longest-lived guest worker program for U.S. growers - it appears to have fulfilled its purpose of expanding the farm labor supply. But, the lower labor costs of bracero-using farmers seemingly came at the expense of U.S. workers. If a new guest worker program for the agricultural industry were initiated or if it became easier for growers to import labor under the current H-2A program, the effects of the Bracero program might be instructive: an increase in total agricultural employment, a decrease in domestic farm worker employment, and a decrease in farm wages. Although the magnitudes might differ today depending upon how much the U.S. farm labor and product markets have changed over time, the direction of the wage and employment effects likely would remain the same. Policy Issues Although the U.S. Commission on Agricultural Workers reported in the early 1990s that there was a surplus of farm labor due partly to illegal immigration, it noted that crop- specific local labor shortages persisted which indicated a temporal and spatial mismatch between the supply of and demand for farm labor. Consequently, the Commission recommended that the U.S. Employment Service (ES) take steps to improve the matching Congressional Research Service A+ The Library of Congress

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