Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Wagner-Peyser Program (Employment Services)
All Program-Specific Requirements provided for the WIOA core programs in this section must be addressed for either a Unified or Combined State Plan.
e. 3. An assessment of the unique needs of farmworkers means summarizing Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker (MSFW) characteristics (including if they are predominantly from certain countries, what language(s) they speak, the approximate number of MSFWs in the State during peak season and during low season, and whether they tend to be migrant, seasonal, or year-round farmworkers). This information must take into account data supplied by WIOA Section 167 National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) grantees, other MSFW organizations, employer organizations, and State and/or Federal agency data sources such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Employment and Training Administration
Current Narrative:
The characteristics of the MSFW population indicate a large percentage of MSFWs are Hispanic and predominantly Spanish speaking. Most migrant and seasonal farmworkers in or coming to Idaho originate from either southern parts of the United States (e.g., Texas, Arizona) or Mexico. The number of MFWs range from a low of 3,800 in the winter months to the peak of 18,500 in October. The majority of the work is seasonal, which also reflects the greater part of the workforce for this industry.
Due to the difficulty in estimating farm employment on a monthly basis, IDOL staff utilize data from a variety of sources to establish MFW population projections for the state. These include the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture, U.S. Census Bureau and the Idaho Department of Labor’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data. The need for agricultural workers is projected to remain at slightly more than 60,000 during the peak of the agricultural season, which is the month of October when most of the crops are harvested statewide.