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Issues: Immigration Reform

PMA Position on Immigration Reform

PMA supports immigration reform, particularly the provisions in the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security (AgJOBS) Act of 2007, S. 340 and H.R. 371. This issue is vitally important to everyone in the produce distribution chain because it will strengthen U.S. production, provide the necessary labor, and enhance national security.

AgJOBS provides a two-step approach to a stable, legal, safe, ag work force by:

• Providing a one-time adjustment to legal temporary status, after a thorough background check, for experienced farm workers already working in the United States, who currently lack legal documentation. These workers would be required to continue working in agriculture for at least 360 days over a three- to six-year period before becoming eligible to apply for permanent resident status.
• Streamlining and expanding the H-2A legal, temporary, guest worker program, and makes it more affordable so it will be used more. This is a longer-term solution, which will take time to implement.

Whether it is AgJOBS or another legislative proposal, any immigration reform measure must have an effective guest-worker program to ensure the availability of a sufficient workforce for the fresh fruit and vegetable industry in the United States.

If you have not yet contacted your Representatives or Senators to ask their support of AgJOBS or legislation with similar provisions, PMA urges you to do so.

Background
By their nature, fresh fruits and vegetables are highly perishable and need to be harvested, packaged, and shipped in a timely manner. This is especially important in certain agricultural areas of the U.S. that have small windows of opportunity to harvest their crops due to the seasons. The U.S. produce industry relies on a strong workforce of both domestic and guest workers in order to gather produce from the fields; however, current U.S. guest worker programs do not sufficiently meet industry's needs.

Immigration Reform's Impact on U.S. Fruit and Vegetable Growers
According to a report by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the U.S. fresh produce industry will suffer short-term losses of as much as $5-9 billion in annual production of primarily import-sensitive commodities most dependent on migrant labor if immigration reform does not include viable guest worker programs. This economic loss was developed using a conservative estimate of a $9.50 hourly wage for agriculture.

Production of fresh fruits, vegetables, and nursery products would be hit hardest as 10-20% of output would shift to other countries, increasing the U.S. trade deficit on virtually a dollar-for-dollar basis. A fifth to a third of production for the fastest growing fresh component of the fruit and vegetable market would be lost, according to the report.

Over the longer term, AFBF estimates this annual loss would increase to $6.5-12 billion as the shock worked its way through the entire sector. This compares to an annual production average for the entire agricultural sector of $208 billion over the last decade.

It is important that U.S. policymakers understand that simply increasing the hourly rate will not find new workers - especially considering that other higher-paying sectors with large numbers of undocumented workers (e.g. janitorial and construction) may also bid up their wages in an attempt to secure their labor pools, the AFBF stated.

Agricultural economists have consistently estimated that every farmworker job supports 3 to 3.5 jobs in the surrounding upstream and downstream economy. Therefore, loss of U.S. jobs in packaging, processing, distribution, sales, equipment, etc., will also occur as various parts of the agricultural economy are dismantled and shipped offshore. This again highlights the critical development and implementation of immigration reform laws with viable guest worker programs.

Immigration Reform's Impact on the U.S. Economy
Another report, issued by the American Immigration Law Foundation's Immigration Policy Center, underscores the important role of immigrant labor to U.S. economic health - citing factors among the U.S.-born population such as falling fertility rates, the aging and increased education of workers, and flattening labor force participation rates.

However, the U.S. economy continues to create a large number of less-skilled jobs that favor younger and less-educated workers. These divergent trends present an obstacle to continued labor force growth, which is an essential component of economic growth in general. Barring unlikely increases in productivity growth rates, expansion of the workforce is crucial to sustained growth in the labor-intensive industries that generate the greatest number of less-skilled jobs.

Despite the critical role played by foreign-born workers in many less-skilled job categories, the current immigration system offers very few visas that are designed or available for these workers. The report concludes that if the U.S. economy is to maintain at least 3% annual growth over the coming decade and beyond, the U.S. labor force must continue to expand. However, the rising demand for labor is unlikely to be met solely by a U.S.-born population that is growing steadily older and has already achieved high levels of participation in the labor force.

PMA Member Tools - How to Get Involved
Because immigration reform is an issue important to your, your business, and the overall economic health of our industry, you need to make your voice heard in Washington, DC. To speak out, use the PMA Advocacy Action Center on the PMA Web site. It is simple, easy, and takes just a few minutes:

• Go to the PMA PMA Advocacy Action Center.
• Under the 'Elected Officials' banner, type in your ZIP code, and click Go.
• From there, you will see photos of your elected leaders. Click on the e-mail link under their names to send them a message.
• As you compose your message, be sure to select 'Labor' as the Issue Area from the drop down menu (if you are writing about immigration reform).

Questions about immigration reform? Call PMA's Government Relations Department at +1 (302) 738-7100 or e-mail publicaffairs@pma.com.