Exploring labor dynamics: Indigenous identity, wage differentials, and poverty risk among Mexican-born farmworkers in the U.S. agricultural sector
Date
2024
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Abstract
This thesis examines the challenges faced by Mexican Indigenous farmworkers within the U.S. agricultural landscape, with a specific focus on an observed wage differential when compared to their Mexican Non-Indigenous counterparts. While existing research has extensively investigated various facets of the U.S. farm labor force, there remains a gap in understanding the specific economic and earnings hurdles encountered by Mexican Indigenous farmworkers. Most of the existing literature has concentrated on overarching demographic trends, farm labor productivity, and the ramifications of immigration policies, leaving the experiences and labor market outcomes of Mexican Indigenous farmworkers insufficiently examined. This research explores the relationship between Indigenous identity, wages, and poverty within the U.S. agricultural sector, using data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) spanning 2003 to 2020. This study focuses on Mexican-born workers, distinguishing between Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals. Over 17 years, we found a significant average wage gap of -5.25% between the two groups, with Indigenous farmworkers earning less. We investigate the factors contributing to the observed wage gap and examine the relationship of Indigenous identity and farmworkers' earnings. Specifically, we analyze whether Indigenous identity is independently associated with lower earnings among farmworkers, while controlling for various factors that may explain differences in earnings compared to Non-Indigenous counterparts. Additionally, we explore if Indigenous identity increases one's risk of poverty, while also controlling for factors influencing this risk. We conduct additional analyses by examining whether Indigenous identity affects earnings within specific farmworker cohorts. The second data approach examines the distribution of farmwork weeks worked in the past year by Indigenous farmworkers surveyed by the NAWS. It explores the average characteristics of Indigenous farmworkers who have worked very few weeks compared to those who have worked more extensively. The third is a marginal effects analysis which quantifies the economic significance of employee and employment characteristics on earnings across Indigenous and Non-Indigenous farmworkers. This approach enables us to assess the specific cumulative influence of Indigenous identity on earnings, while also considering the average effects associated with Indigenous status. Findings from this research will identify the determinants of the wage gap between Mexican-Indigenous and Mexican-Non-Indigenous farmworkers, potentially attributable to observable characteristics (such as education and years of experience), Indigenous identity (indicative of wage discrimination), or a combination of both. Depending on the results, we can recommend policy initiatives aimed at improving educational attainment and other skills for Mexican-Indigenous farmworkers, enabling them to earn wages comparable to their Non-Indigenous counterparts. Additionally, we can inform new legislation seeking to improve the types of work arrangements between Indigenous farmworkers and agricultural employers, in efforts to take a step towards preventing wage discrimination based on Indigenous identity as part of those work arrangements.