Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2005

45-2092 Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse

Manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, horticultural specialties, and field crops. Use hand tools, such as shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, pruning hooks, shears, and knives. Duties may include tilling soil and applying fertilizers; transplanting, weeding, thinning, or pruning crops; applying pesticides; cleaning, grading, sorting, packing and loading harvested products. May construct trellises, repair fences and farm buildings, or participate in irrigation activities. Exclude "Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products" (45-2041). Exclude "Forest, Conservation, and Logging Workers" (45-4011 through 45-4029).

National estimates for this occupation
Industry profile for this occupation
State profile for this occupation
Metropolitan area profile for this occupation

National estimates for this occupation: Top

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for this occupation:

Employment (1) Employment
RSE (3) 		Mean hourly
wage		 Mean annual
wage (2) 		Wage RSE (3)
227,750 3.0 % $8.35 $17,370 0.6 %

Percentile wage estimates for this occupation:

Percentile 10% 25% 50%
(Median) 		75% 90%
Hourly Wage $6.57 $7.20 $7.91 $8.66 $11.02
Annual Wage (2) $13,660 $14,980 $16,450 $18,020 $22,930

Industry profile for this occupation: Top

Industries with the highest published employment and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all industries with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

Industries with the highest levels of employment in this occupation:

Industry Employment Hourly mean wage Annual mean wage
Support activities for crop production 161,280 $7.96 $16,550
Misc. nondurable goods merchant wholesalers 15,900 $8.80 $18,300
Lawn and garden equipment and supplies stores 11,860 $9.33 $19,410
Beverage manufacturing 4,200 $10.53 $21,910
Services to buildings and dwellings 3,240 $10.31 $21,450

Top paying industries for this occupation:

Industry Employment Hourly mean wage Annual mean wage
Federal government (OES designation) 140 $16.18 $33,660
Elementary and secondary schools (8) $15.43 $32,100
State government (OES designation) 180 $12.85 $26,720
Local government (OES designation) 840 $12.04 $25,050
Specialized freight trucking (8) $12.02 $25,010

State profile for this occupation: Top

States with the highest published employment concentrations and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all States with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

States with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation:

State Employment Hourly mean wage Annual mean wage Percent of State employment
California 135,200 $8.30 $17,260 0.918%
New Mexico 3,330 $6.49 $13,490 0.436%
Florida 28,020 $7.92 $16,470 0.368%
Arizona 8,720 $6.71 $13,960 0.358%
Idaho 990 $9.56 $19,880 0.166%

Top paying States for this occupation:

State Employment Hourly mean wage Annual mean wage Percent of State employment
Massachusetts 890 $11.51 $23,930 0.028%
Nebraska 510 $11.25 $23,410 0.057%
North Dakota 320 $10.85 $22,560 0.097%
Ohio 2,060 $10.77 $22,410 0.039%
Washington 3,000 $10.77 $22,390 0.113%

Metropolitan area profile for this occupation: Top

Metropolitan areas with the highest published employment concentrations and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all Metropolitan areas with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

Metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation:

MSA Employment Hourly mean wage Annual mean wage Percent of MSA employment
Salinas, CA 19,950 $8.32 $17,300 12.772%
El Centro, CA 5,840 $8.09 $16,830 12.307%
Yuma, AZ 6,700 $6.67 $13,870 11.247%
Madera, CA 4,120 $8.18 $17,010 11.012%
Visalia-Porterville, CA 12,540 $8.21 $17,080 10.138%

Top paying Metropolitan areas for this occupation:

MSA Employment Hourly mean wage Annual mean wage Percent of MSA employment
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT 150 $13.67 $28,420 0.036%
Champaign-Urbana, IL (8) $13.43 $27,940 (8)
Wilmington, DE-MD-NJ Metropolitan Division 60 $13.24 $27,540 0.018%
Charlottesville, VA 40 $13.16 $27,380 0.044%
Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA 130 $13.05 $27,140 0.030%

About May 2005 National, State, and Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

These estimates are calculated with data collected from employers in all industry sectors in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas in every State and the District of Columbia. The top five employment and wage figures are provided above. The complete list is available in the downloadable Excel files (XLS).

Percentile wage estimates show the percentage of workers in an occupation that earn less than a given wage and the percentage that earn more. The median wage is the 50th percentile wage estimate—50 percent of workers earn less than the median and 50 percent of workers earn more than the median. More about percentile wages.


(1) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers.

(2) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.

(3) The relative standard error (RSE) is a measure of the reliability of a survey statistic. The smaller the relative standard error, the more precise the estimate.

(8) Estimate not released.

Other OES estimates and related information:

May 2005 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

May 2005 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

May 2005 Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

May 2005 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

List of Occupations in SOC Code Number Order

List of Occupations in Alphabetical Order

Download May 2005 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates in Zipped Excel files

Technical notes

 

Last Modified Date: May 24, 2006