Both the Wisconsin farm workers’ wages and hours have gone up from 2021. Wisconsin farmers are paying more than the national average for labor. That’s the summary from the latest farm labor report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
There were 41,000 workers hired directly by farms in the Lake Region –Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin–during the reference week of January 9-15, 2023. Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage rate of $18.85 per hour. That’s $1.14 above January 2022. The number of hours worked averaged 39.8 for hired workers during the reference week, compared with 39.1 hours in January 2022.
During the reference week of April 10-16, there were 55,000 workers hired directly by farms in the Lake Region. Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage rate of $18.92 per hour during the April reference week. That’s $1.47 above April 2022. The number of hours worked averaged 40.1 for hired workers during the reference week, compared with 38.4 hours in April 2022.
Looking at the U.S as a whole, farm operators hired 651,000 workers during the week of April 9-15. That’s up 3 percent from the April 2022 reference week. In the January reference week, operators hired 511,000 farm workers, up 1 percent from the January 2022 reference week.
Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $18.08 per hour during the April 2023 reference week. That’s up 5 percent from the April 2022 reference week. Field workers received an average of $17.26 per hour, up 5 percent. Livestock workers earned $16.48 per hour, up 4 percent. The field and livestock worker combined wage rate, at $16.99 per hour, was up 4 percent from the 2022 reference week.
Hired laborers worked an average of 40.6 hours during the April 2023 reference week, up 2 percent from the hours worked during the April 2022 reference week.
Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $18.55 per hour during the January 2023 reference week, up 5 percent from the January 2022 reference week. Field workers received an average of $17.67 per hour, up 7 percent, while livestock workers earned $16.71 per hour, up 4 percent from a year earlier. The field and livestock worker combined wage rate, at $17.26 per hour, was up 5 percent from the January 2022 reference week. Hired laborers worked an average of 38.9 hours during the January 2023 reference week, down 1 percent from the hours worked during the January 2022 reference week.
The complete report can be found on the USDA NASS website at www.nass.usda.gov/Publications.
