California’s 2019 overtime law for ag workers appears to have resulted in reduced weekly working hours and earnings for crop workers over the subsequent two years. The findings are highlighted in a recent ARE Update from the University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics. The research, based on data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey, reveals a substantial reduction in weekly working hours and earnings for California crop workers.
Employers adjusted schedules to avoid higher overtime rates, leading to challenges in achieving the purported purpose of the legislation. Before the law, farmworkers received overtime for hours exceeding 10 hours per day or 60 hours per week. The study shows a decrease in ag workers clocking between 56 and 60 hours, which is just below the old threshold, and an increase in those working between 46 and 50 hours, which is under the new overtime threshold. The research estimates a collective 15,000 to 45,000 fewer hours worked and $6 million to $9 million less in weekly pay for California’s farm workforce in the law’s initial two years.
Listen to the report below.
Brian German
Ag News Director / AgNet West