Farm Labor & Immigration Control Reform Act

Many crops in California are labor intensive in character. Typically, agricultural production in these labor intensive crop areas are heavily dependent on immigrant labor.1 Any disequilibrium introduced into the agricultural labor force, therefore, tends to affect agricultural producers through changes in the conditions associated with labor use.2 The Immigration Control Reform Act holds the potential to introduce disequilibrium into the agricultural labor market in the United States.3

This research is concerned specifically with the type and magnitude of the effects on farm labor contracts in California that may be expected from the Immigration Control Reform Act of 1986. Considering that the Immigration Control Reform Act of 1986 was enacted in November of 1986, it might at first appear that speculation concerning the effects of the Act on farm labor contracts would not be necessary; that, rather, actual effects could be measured and reported. That case, however, does not apply in this instance.

1V. A. Canto, and F. E. Udwadia, "The Effect of Immigration Quotas on the Average Quality of Migrating Labor and Income Distribution," Southern Economic Journal, 52 (January 1986): 785793.

2G. D. Thompson, and P. L. Martin, "Immigration Reform and the Agricultural Labor Force," Labor Law Journal, 42 (August 1991): 544545.

3V. M. Briggs, Jr., "NonImmigrant Labor Po

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ted does not consider the significant under count of illegal immigrants in the United States that is presumed to characterize the national census data.8 The estimate of the immigrant worker proportion of the total agricultural labor force in California is 40.5 percent.9 Any action that holds the potential to have a significant impact on the immigrant population in the United States, therefore, may be expected to have a disproportionately higher impact in California. In turn, any significant impact on the immigrant population in California may be expected to have a  7D. Hensley, "The Effects of Mexican Immigration to Los Angeles on the Wages of native Workers," PhD. dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, 1989, 3. 8Ibid. 9Hensley, "Impact of Immigration," 533. disproportionately higher impact on the agricultural labor force in the state. One way, perhaps the most obvious way, that the Immigration Control Reform Act of 1986 can affect the agricultural labor force in California is through a reduction in the numbers of immigrants entering the country from Mexico. When the number of immigrants entering the country from Mexico is reduced, the agricultural labor market in California may be expec
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Reform Act, Naturalization Service, Census Bureau, Law Journal, United Mexico, CONTRACTING CALIFORNIA, Los Angeles, Agricultural Economics, Economic Issues, Yuba City, immigration control, control reform, control reform act, immigration control reform, reform act, reform act 1986, act 1986, agricultural labor, illegal immigrants, labor force, agricultural labor force, mexican immigrants, los angeles, farm labor, implementation immigration control,
Approximate Word count = 1550
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)