SHOOT: Interesting piece about the reluctance Americans have to work higher paying farm jobs rather than minimum wage for a fast food fry hut. I see this trend likely to change from here on out.
"Even as rural unemployment increases, U.S. workers regard farm work as beneath them," said Jordan Wells, coordinator of the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. "Why do people work at McDonald's and not the farm? There's something about farm work that has been stigmatized."
Crop workers at Samascott's farm can earn more than $2 an hour above the New York state minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
The American Farm Bureau estimates there are 11 million Americans in jobs that pay less than farm work. In a country where roughly eight out of 10 people live in urban areas, farm work is not an option for many of those low-wage workers. But the arduous work performed by more than a million people nationwide is unattractive to many job seekers.
"I've been doing this almost eight years," he said. "I work with Americans. They never complete six months."
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