There were 58,000 workers hired directly by farms in the Lake Region (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) during the reference week of July 12-18, 2020, according to the latest USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service – Farm Labor Report. This was down 12% from the July 2019 reference week. Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage rate of $15.24 per hour, up 19 cents from July 2019. The number of hours worked averaged 39.8 for hired workers during the reference week, compared with 40.5 hours during the July 2019 reference week.
During the reference week of October 11-17, 2020, there were 57,000 workers hired directly by farms in the Lake Region (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). This was down 16% from the October 2019 reference week. Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage rate of $15.72 per hour during the October 2020 reference week, up 8 cents from October 2019. The number of hours worked averaged 41.3 for hired workers during the reference week, up from 41.0 hours during the October 2019 reference week.
