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The National Agricultural Workers Survey

The National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) is an employment-based, random survey of the demographic, employment, and health characteristics of the U.S. crop labor force. The information is obtained directly from farm workers through face-to-face interviews. Since 1988, when the survey began, nearly 50,000 workers have been interviewed.

The NAWS is performed under contract to the Department of Labor and its information is made available to the public through periodic research reports and a public use data set. Numerous Federal government agencies utilize NAWS findings for a multitude of purposes, including occupational injury and health surveillance, estimating the need for services, allocating program dollars to areas of greatest need, and program design and evaluation.

The survey samples crop workers in three cycles each year to reflect the seasonality of agricultural production and employment. Workers are located at their farm job sites. During the initial contact, arrangements are made to interview the respondent at home or at another location convenient to the respondent. Depending on the information needs and resources of the various Federal agencies that use NAWS data, between 1,500 and 4,000 workers are interviewed each year.


What information does the NAWS collect?

Composition and Demographic Characteristics of the Household: Using a household grid, the interviewer records basic demographic information for the respondent and all household members, including age, gender, relationship to respondent, place of birth, education level, and the month and year first entered the United States (if foreign-born).

Demographic Characteristics of the Farm Worker Respondent: The NAWS obtains a comprehensive demographic profile of the farm worker respondent. In addition to the basic characteristics mentioned above, the profile includes race and ethnicity, primary language, and ability to read and speak English.

Employment and Migration Profile: Using a work grid, the interviewer compiles a 12-month, retrospective employment and migration profile of the farm worker. This history covers the occupation, including the primary crop and task for farm jobs, type of non-agricultural work if employed off the farm, periods of unemployment and time spent outside of the United States, and the respondent’s location for every week of the year preceding the interview.

Earnings, Benefits, and Worksite Characteristics: The NAWS collects information on hourly earnings, including payment method (piece or hourly), monetary bonuses and insurance benefits (health insurance, workers compensation and unemployment insurance), and worksite availability of water and toilets.

Health, Safety, and Housing: The NAWS gathers information on medical history, use of medical services, safety training, and housing location, type, and arrangements (rents from employer or non employer, owns, etc.).

Income and Assets, Social Services, and Legal Status: The NAWS instrument includes a series of questions on personal and family income, assets held in and outside of the United States, use of social services, and legal status.


Survey Documentation
Public Access Documentation

Before downloading the public access data, users should first read the document entitled, NAWS Public Access Data: Fiscal Years 1989-2006. It describes the data and offers important analysis tips. NAWS Public Access Data: Fiscal Years 1989-2006


Public Access Data

The data are currently available in Excel and SAS. To facilitate downloading, the SAS data files have been compressed into ZIP files. All the data may be downloaded at once, i.e., as a single file. Alternatively, files containing the questionnaire and created variables may be downloaded separately and then merged by the variable 'FWID'. Data users are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the questionnaire and codebook, above, before downloading data. Questionnaire variable names in the codebook match the cycle 55 questionnaire.

Decompressing Files
Windows XP comes with software for unzipping a zipped file. For older versions of Windows, Winzip may be used to decompress the files. Click on the following link to download Winzip: www.winzip.com/downwz.htm. UNIX/LINUX distributions normally come with decompressing software.

SAS Data Files (click on links to download the data)

Entire data set (zipped: 7914KB; unzipped: 74,545KB): naws_all.sas7bdat (SAS)
Created variables only (zipped: 2861KB; unzipped: 22,593KB): crtd155pub.sas7bdat (SAS)
Questionnaire variables only (zipped:5003KB; unzipped: 49,697KB): naws155pub.sas7bdat (SAS)

Excel Data Files (click on links to download the data)

Created variables only (30,454KB): crtd155pub.xls (Excel) Microsoft Excel format
Questionnaire variables only (70,735KB): naws155pub.xls (Excel) Microsoft Excel format


How are the findings disseminated?

In addition to the public data set, NAWS findings are presented at farm labor and farm worker health conferences and are also disseminated via periodic research reports. Conference presentations will be added to this site and the following nine research reports are available at no charge:

  1. Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 1990: A Demographic and Employment Profile of Perishable Crop Farm Workers. U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office of Program Economics, Research Report No. 1. July 1991.
  2. Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 1989: A Demographic and Employment Profile of Perishable Crop Farm Workers. U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office of Program Economics, Research Report No. 2. November 1991.
  3. California Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey: A Demographic and Employment Profile of Perishable Crop Farm Workers. U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office of Program Economics, Research Report No. 3. 1993.
  4. U.S. Farmworkers In the Post-Irca Period, Based on Data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS). U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office of Program Economics, Research Report No. 4. March 1993.
  5. Migrant Farmworkers: Pursuing Security in an Unstable Labor Market. Based on Data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS). U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office of Program Economics, Research Report No. 5. May 1994.
  6. A PROFILE OF U.S. FARMWORKERS: Demographics, Household Composition, Income and Use of Services. U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office of Program Economics, Research Report No. 6. April 1997.
  7. Who Works on California Farms? Demographic and Employment Findings From The National Agricultural Workers Survey. U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office of Program Economics, NAWS Report No. 7. 1998.
  8. Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS): A Demographic and Employment Profile of United States Farmworkers. U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office of Program Economics, Research Report No. 8. March 2000.
  9. Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 2001 - 2002.
    A Demographic and Employment Profile of United States Farm Workers. U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office of Programmatic Policy, Research Report No. 9. March 2005.


Other Farm Labor Data

U.S.D.A. Census of Agriculture: Hired and Contract Labor Expenses
1992 - Labor Expenses for Crop Workers by State and County
2002 - Labor Expenses for Crop and Livestock Workers by State and County
(Data also available in Microsoft Excel format) Microsoft Excel format
2002 - Labor Expenses for Crop and Livestock Workers by State


For Additional Information

To order reports or inquire about the survey, please contact Daniel Carroll:

email: carroll.daniel.j@dol.gov

phone: 202-693-2795




 
Created: March 27, 2004
Updated: November 21, 2007