The National Agricultural Workers Survey, Employment & Training Administration (ETA)

Major Findings:

Over time the farmworker population has become increasingly male (now 80% are men).

Over time the population has become increasing foreign born (now 70% are foreign born).
Farmworkers are very young (2/3 are less than 35) and almost one fifth are in their first year of US farm work.
Most adult foreign farmworkers are married and have children.
Most foreign born farm workers with families live and work separately from their spouses and children.
Most foreign farmworkers live with non-relatives.
Most (3/5th) farmworkers are poor; and the proportion seems to be increasing over time.
Despite their poverty few use social services.
About 100,000 foreign-born eligble farmworker households may be excluded from each of the major programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and WIC due to legislation passed by the 104th Congress.
The proportion of unauthorized rose quickly as citizens and the newly legalized population left. In the 1994-1995 period, 37% of farmworkers were unauthorized, up from 7% in 1989.