News

Average farm worker makes $12.75/hour

The USDA says the average farm worker earned $12.75 per hour during April. That’s a four percent increase compared to the same week last year.

Field workers during April earned an average of $12 per hour, up six percent. Livestock farm workers earned a penny more, a four percent increase from 2015.  The average work week during April for hired laborers was a little more than 40 hours.

The number of hired workers on farms and ranches increased two percent to 703,000. Illinois, Indiana and Ohio saw the largest increase in farm workers, up 31 percent.  The largest wage increases occurred in Florida, Iowa and Missouri.