The Direct Economic Impact of Migrant Farmworkers on Southeastern Michigan
Author: Rosenbaum, Rene P.
Date Published: 2001
This paper makes a contribution to the emerging community view of the farm labor problem by examining the economic impact of the MSFW labor market on the rural area of Branch, Hillsdale, Jackson, Lenawee, Monroe and Washtenaw Counties in southeastern Michigan. The first section provides a synopsis of the three different perspectives of the farm labor problem. Section three develops a model of farm labor as an economic development event to measure the economic impacts on rural areas from the presence of MSFW's. MSFW-dependent agriculture and the MSFW population and labor market in southeastern Michigan are described in section four. Section five applies the seasonal farm labor economic model to measure the economic contributions of the farmworker population in Michigan's southeastern region for 1997. The findings are used in section six to gauge the potential economic impact on the local economy of the H-2A national policy initiative, a guest worker program that would sharply increase the stag vs. family proportion of the migrant workforce. The chapter concludes with a summary of the research findings and a statement about the significance of viewing the farm labor problem as an economic development event.
Date Published: 2001
This paper makes a contribution to the emerging community view of the farm labor problem by examining the economic impact of the MSFW labor market on the rural area of Branch, Hillsdale, Jackson, Lenawee, Monroe and Washtenaw Counties in southeastern Michigan. The first section provides a synopsis of the three different perspectives of the farm labor problem. Section three develops a model of farm labor as an economic development event to measure the economic impacts on rural areas from the presence of MSFW's. MSFW-dependent agriculture and the MSFW population and labor market in southeastern Michigan are described in section four. Section five applies the seasonal farm labor economic model to measure the economic contributions of the farmworker population in Michigan's southeastern region for 1997. The findings are used in section six to gauge the potential economic impact on the local economy of the H-2A national policy initiative, a guest worker program that would sharply increase the stag vs. family proportion of the migrant workforce. The chapter concludes with a summary of the research findings and a statement about the significance of viewing the farm labor problem as an economic development event.
