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Article
Publication date: 4 September 2017

Tianyuan Luo and Cesar Escalante

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of employer-provided health benefits (EPHBs) on labor supply decisions of documented and undocumented farm workers. By…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of employer-provided health benefits (EPHBs) on labor supply decisions of documented and undocumented farm workers. By establishing a significant linkage between EPHB and farm work decisions, this study provides important implications for farm employment retention and the financial sustainability of farm businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey, objective (actual) and subjective (expected) employment data are used as outcome variables analyzed under an ordered probit model, with the data pre-processed using the coarsened exact matching method to reduce endogeneity issues within the estimation.

Findings

Results confirm the influence of EPHB on farm workers’ decisions to remain employed on the farm as well as on the duration of their farm employment. Comparatively, EPHB significantly influences undocumented farm workers’ decisions on actual employment duration and subjective working expectations while documented workers seem to ascribe less importance to EPHB in their farm employment decisions.

Practical implications

This study provides important financial and business viability implications as the value of farm labor services retained through EPHB can translate to high opportunity losses, if ineffective. Alternative labor-saving strategies, such as mechanization, can only potentially lead to serious financial challenges for agribusiness firms, especially small-scale farm operations. This study emphasizes the need for more effective employment retention incentives for the sake of sustaining farm business viability.

Originality/value

This study presents empirical evidence on the important influence of EPHB on farm employment decisions, especially those made by undocumented farm workers, that have not been extensively explored in literature.

Details

Agricultural Finance Review, vol. 77 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-1466

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2012

Anita Alves Pena

Farm labor contractors operate as intermediaries between farmworkers and agricultural employers by recruiting and supplying labor to US farms. In a political economy where there…

Abstract

Purpose

Farm labor contractors operate as intermediaries between farmworkers and agricultural employers by recruiting and supplying labor to US farms. In a political economy where there are employer sanctions for hiring workers without proper documentation, contractors share risk alongside final employers. Furthermore, contractors may facilitate quick employment matches during time sensitive agricultural tasks such as harvesting. For undocumented workers, using a contractor may decrease uncertainty associated with a foreign labor market and ease language barriers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current role of labor contractors in delivering immigrant agricultural workers, particularly undocumented workers, to farms.

Design/methodology/approach

Determinants of labor contractor use and relationships to final worker outcomes are examined using econometric methods and a large nationally‐representative worker survey that is distinctive in that it distinguishes legal status.

Findings

Undocumented farmworkers are shown to be more likely to use contractors than are documented workers, though statistical significance is sensitive to the inclusion of crop and task indicators, and wages and fringe compensation to workers who use contractors are lower, even after controlling for legal status.

Research limitations/implications

The paper contributes to limited recent academic work on the role of labor contractors in US agriculture. Future work may examine ongoing changes to this role in the context of mutable immigration policy and public opinion.

Practical implications

It is argued that the decline in labor contracting increases the need for employer‐level bilingual communication skills and compliance with labor regulations.

Originality/value

Understanding current dynamics of the agricultural labor market should be of value to scholars of rural economies, farm owners and agricultural policymakers.

Article
Publication date: 20 July 2023

Lorena Gutiérrez

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of documentation on the educational experiences, college readiness and aspirations of undocumented Latinx migrant and seasonal…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of documentation on the educational experiences, college readiness and aspirations of undocumented Latinx migrant and seasonal farmworkers.

Design/methodology/approach

This ethnographic study was conducted in a High School Equivalency Program at a large university in the Midwest. Data was collected during two semesters across a three-year span. Participants included six Mexican migrant and seasonal farmworkers who were preparing to earn their General Educational Development (GED) diploma. Using the grounded theory, data was collected and analyzed simultaneously where initial and focused coding took place, followed by cross-case analysis.

Findings

Analysis of student interviews, participant observations and in-depth fieldnotes that include the K-12 educational experiences, experiences during and after the High School Equivalency Program reveal that undocumented Latinx migrant and seasonal farmworkers aspire to earn a GED diploma to access a better future inclusive of college. However, the legal liminality, the uncertainty and ambiguity of being undocumented, impacts their educational journey prior to, during and beyond the High School Equivalency Program. Furthermore, undocumented Latinx migrant and seasonal farmworkers are unable to change their material conditions with a GED because of their documentation status.

Originality/value

Although researchers have studied the education experiences of Latinx migrant and seasonal farmworkers, analysis and consideration of documentation status is missing. This study contributes much needed findings about the impact of documentation status on the educational experiences, college readiness, and aspirations of Latinx migrant and seasonal farmworkers.

Details

English Teaching: Practice & Critique, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1175-8708

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 January 2022

Jerry V. Graves

Agricultural and fishery disasters are rather obscure emergency management research topics. However, the Food and Agriculture Sector is one of only 16 critical infrastructure…

Abstract

Agricultural and fishery disasters are rather obscure emergency management research topics. However, the Food and Agriculture Sector is one of only 16 critical infrastructure sectors included in the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988, and the sector is a vital component of the United States economy. As climate change continues to increase the frequency and severity of agricultural and fishery disasters, the Food and Agricultural Sector must adapt to and cope with unprecedented levels of risk. This chapter provides an overview of federal agricultural and fishery disaster policy and explores whether such policies are consistent with Jerroleman’s (2019)principles of just recovery.

Details

Justice, Equity, and Emergency Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-332-9

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 24 February 2011

Marie-Christine Renard

This chapter presents the case of the coffee-growing region located in the southern portion of the state of Chiapas, along the Guatemalan border. This region was relatively…

Abstract

This chapter presents the case of the coffee-growing region located in the southern portion of the state of Chiapas, along the Guatemalan border. This region was relatively prosperous until the 1980s, thanks in part to price support programs established through international coffee agreements. A short supply of labor attracted farm workers from adjacent regions. These were seasonal, undocumented workers who arrived from Guatemala and whose status of illegal immigrants fostered their exploitation. The liberalization of the international coffee market combined with a sharply reduced state intervention engendered the control over coffee production by a few transnational companies and the collapse of the economy of small producers. Combined with natural disasters whose effects were not addressed by the neoliberal state, this situation caused the region to be bypassed by Guatemalan labor that now prefers direct migration to the United States. This region also has been transformed into an increasingly underdeveloped area affected by outmigration. Chiapas has become a long vertical border for undocumented Central American workers as Mexican migration policy has toughened following the establishment of the US national security policy. In this sense, there is a stark contrast between the mobility of financial and commercial capital and the ease with which both move in and out from the region, and the obstacles imposed on labor mobility.

Details

Globalization and the Time–Space Reorganization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-318-8

Book part
Publication date: 5 August 2019

Gabrielle E. Clark

Since the late 1970s, US employers have increasingly drawn upon legal temporary labor under the H-2 visa to address their labor needs in low-waged sectors. Ever since, what Clark…

Abstract

Since the late 1970s, US employers have increasingly drawn upon legal temporary labor under the H-2 visa to address their labor needs in low-waged sectors. Ever since, what Clark calls migrant labor activism and conflict in the courts has similarly erupted. However, as she argues in this chapter, making “adversarial legalism” the H-2 way of law has also been a story of comparative state formation. For, the litigation largely reflects the structure of labor migration created after the demise of government-run migration. In this regard, activists wrestle with the problems created by the new role of global labor intermediaries in the recruitment process, absolute employer control over hiring and firing, and the coercion produced in the shadow of a now minimally interventionist state. Drawing upon archival research, interviews with legal professionals, and the entire case law docket in this area, this chapter puts “adversarial legalism” under the H-2 visa in its historical and political context.

Details

Studies in Law, Politics, and Society
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-058-0

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 30 October 2007

David M. Reimers

Since 1986, when the immigration Reform and Control Act was passed, migration to the United States has grown steadily. This includes immigrants, nonimmigrants, undocumented

Abstract

Since 1986, when the immigration Reform and Control Act was passed, migration to the United States has grown steadily. This includes immigrants, nonimmigrants, undocumented immigrants, and border crossers. Immigration averaged nearly one million annually from 1990 to 2002, with family unification accounting for over 70 percent of the new immigrants. The number of nonimmigrants topped 30 million by 2002, most of whom were tourists. Estimates for undocumented aliens topped 400,000 by the turn of the 21st century, in spite of large increases in funding from the Immigration and Naturalization Service and substantial new positions along the Mexican-United States border. The exact number of border crossers is not known, but the federal government has noted that well over 200 million crossings (mostly along the Mexican border) are recorded each year. In response to tighter controls on migrants after 9/11 the numbers coming to the United States dropped in 2003. However, they increased again in 2004. It appears that the figures will increase in the future.

Details

Immigration
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1391-4

Article
Publication date: 10 June 2021

Ron Bridget T. Vilog and Carlos M. Piocos III

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of states’ pandemic responses to the conditions and vulnerabilities of undocumented Filipino migrants in Italy and the UK. It…

5448

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of states’ pandemic responses to the conditions and vulnerabilities of undocumented Filipino migrants in Italy and the UK. It also explores the role and strategies of migrant organisations in addressing the issues and concerns of undocumented workers.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative approaches are used to collect and analyse the narratives of the migrants and migrant organisations. This paper used government reports, policy briefs and documents from international organisations in analysing the socio-political vulnerabilities of undocumented migrants in the context of the global pandemic. In addition, we interviewed leaders of migrant organisations, which are involved in supporting irregular migrants.

Findings

The study reveals that states have exercised a regime of legitimate violence against undocumented workers in Italy and the UK. This regime is imposed not only by the stringent laws and policies that directly and indirectly cause economic, social and even cultural suffering to the migrants but also by the “symbolic violence” manifested in structural and social inequalities, and the exploitative economic order amid the pandemic. Responding to the “regime of fear”, migrant organisations provide immediate relief and “safe spaces” for the undocumented workers.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the ongoing conversation on state practices in regulating migration by framing the conditions of undocumentation as legal violence that structurally deprives irregular migrants access to health care and human rights amid global health crisis.

Details

International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-4902

Keywords

Expert briefing
Publication date: 31 August 2017

Labour regulations and crackdowns in Malaysia and Thailand.

Article
Publication date: 25 October 2022

Emmanuel Akwasi Marfo, Higinio Fernandez-Sanchez and Bridget Osei Henewaa Annor

Pandemics pose challenges to all groups of people and all aspects of human lives. Undocumented migrants are likely to face more challenges during global pandemics. The purpose of…

Abstract

Purpose

Pandemics pose challenges to all groups of people and all aspects of human lives. Undocumented migrants are likely to face more challenges during global pandemics. The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible challenges of undocumented immigrants in Canada and the USA in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

From existing literature, the authors examined the challenges of undocumented migrants in Canada and the USA and suggested recommendations to address those challenges at both policy and national levels.

Findings

The undocumented status of some international immigrants makes them vulnerable in their host nations. They face myriad challenges in their host countries, spanning from economic, health, social isolation and employment challenges, and these are further exacerbated during pandemics such as the ongoing COVID-19. The provision of culturally sensitive and safe policies may support this particular population, especially in times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Originality/value

This paper provides critical insights into the possible intersections that worsen the vulnerability of undocumented migrants in pandemic crises like COVID-19. Further, this review serves to initiate the discourse on policy and interventions for undocumented immigrants during pandemics or disease outbreaks.

Details

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. 18 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-9894

Keywords

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