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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, over 53,000 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 number and characteristics of farm workers and their dependents, and program design and evaluation.

Interviews are conducted 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 work during a break period, so as not to interrupt the establishment's business practices, or at home or 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 about 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

Methods: Statistical Methods of the National Agricultural Workers Survey

Interviewer Instructions for Contacting and Selecting Workers

Questionnaires: October 2010, English (pdf) October 2010, Spanish (pdf)

NAWS Sampling Regions (Map)

Correspondence between NAWS and
USDA Farm Labor Survey Sampling Regions

Public Access Documentation

Data for Federal fiscal years 1989-2009 are currently available in SAS. Before downloading the data, users are strongly encouraged to review the document NAWS Public Access Data: Fiscal Years 1989-2009, which describes the data and offers analysis tips. Data users are further encouraged to review the questionnaire and codebook, below. Questionnaire variable names in the codebook match the cycle 64 questionnaire.

Questionnaires

English: NAWS Cycle 64 Questionnaire June 2010 English.pdf
Spanish: NAWS Cycle 64 Questionnaire June 2010 Spanish.pdf

Codebook: NAWS Pubic Data Codebook 1989-2009.pdf


Map of Collapsed Public Access Regions (Map)

Data Limitations

Except for California, the data are not available at the state-level. Due to low annual sample sizes, at least four years should be combined for all regional-level analyses. When analyzing data at the national level, at least two years of data should be combined.

Due to the survey's complex sampling design, a special analysis procedure is needed to generate survey-design-corrected standard errors. The procedure used in SAS is discussed on pages 17-18 of the statistical methods document. As the procedure requires the variable for the primary sampling units, which, for confidentiality safeguards, is not included in the NAWSPAD, researchers who need to report design-corrected standard errors are encouraged to contact Mr. Daniel Carroll via phone (202) 693-2795 or e-mail (carroll.daniel.j@dol.gov) to discuss their information needs.

The health condition variables provided in the NAWAPAD represent diagnoses over the life of the crop worker and may not represent existing conditions for the farm worker at the time of interview. Work-relatedness was not assessed for these health conditions.


Public Access Data

Data for 1989-2009 are currently available in SAS. The file has been compressed to facilitate downloading. Windows XP comes with software for decompressing (unzipping) files. For older versions of Windows, WinZip may be used to decompress the file. Click on the following link to download WinZip: www.winzip.com/downwz.htm. UNIX/LINUX distributions normally come with decompressing software.


SAS Data File

(click on link to download the data):

File size (unzipped): 117 MB
File size (compressed): 9.95 MB


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. 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.


For Additional Information

To order reports or inquire about the survey, please contact Daniel Carroll:
E-mail: carroll.daniel.j@dol.gov  Phone: 202-693-2795