http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1806238626

A Preliminary Report on a Study of Farm Laborers in Fresno County fromJanuary 1, 1959 to July 1, 1959

Problems regarding farm laborers in fresno county, california, solutions to their problems, and their future needs were studied. Research teams utilized welfare department records to analyze the characteristics and composition of particular groups of laborers. Appropriate literature was studied, workers were interviewed and observed in various situation, representatives of growers, labor contractors, employment services, and other agencies working with farm laborers were also interviewed. Major findings dealt with characteristics of the laborers, their future needs, patterns of employment, houising, income, and law enforcement. Most farm laborers were permanent state and county residents and no longer migrant. Although farms were being increasingly mechanized, a cheap labor supply prolonged the realization of full mechanization. The use of contract labor increased greatly. Few laborers were covered by social security because contractors did not send in payroll taxes. There was little large-scale provision of free housing by ranchers. Single men in the day-haul pattern of work usually lived in inexpensive boarding houses. More and more family groups of farm workers moved into urban fringe slum housing. Average family income was $1,990, with 83 percent of the families earning $3,000 per year or less. A serious shortage of law enforcement personnel was reported in rural areas, and lawlessness was prevalent in rural and in urban slum areas. Recommendations made for further studies included studies of a school program aimed at changing value-attitude systems of farm workers' children, a study of the effects of a ranch operation in which group members with advanced training and education returned to live with their original group as leaders, and a pilot program of educational scholarships. Steps should be taken to improve the income, housing, education, police and fire protection, and health services to farm laborers and their families.

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