Rep. Waxman and 18 other member of Congress urge the Department of Labor to continue the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), which provides essential information on employment, immigration, health, public benefits, education, wages, and income.

The NAWS is one of the very few sources of solid information about migrant and seasonal farmworkers. The demographic and other information provided by NAWS offers a useful portrait of the nation’s farmworkers that is not available in any other study. Its findings provide the public and policy makers with important information related to employment, immigration, health, public benefits, education, and wages and income. In the absence of the NAWS, the public and policy makers would be forced to rely on other data, much of which contains misleading conclusions about such basic issues as the race, ethnicity, national origin, wages, amount of work and immigration status.