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Poverty, Legal Status, and Pay Basis: The Case of U.S. Agriculture
Author(s) -
PENA ANITA ALVES
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
industrial relations: a journal of economy and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.61
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1468-232X
pISSN - 0019-8676
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-232x.2010.00608.x
Subject(s) - poverty , poverty level , wage , demographic economics , face (sociological concept) , legal status , farm workers , agriculture , work (physics) , socioeconomics , economics , political science , labour economics , economic growth , geography , sociology , law , social science , mechanical engineering , archaeology , engineering
U.S. farmworkers primarily are paid either on a piecerate or on a timerate basis. This article studies relationships among wage contracts, legal status, and poverty using a representative survey of employed farmworkers, which includes detailed information on legal status, including whether a worker is illegal. Results indicate that while piecerate workers earn more per hour on average, they work fewer hours and face greater poverty risk than their timerate counterparts. Furthermore, foreign‐born workers, especially those who are undocumented, are overrepresented in piecerate positions, and analysis shows that the effect of piecerate pay on poverty is positive and correlated with being foreign‐born.