A sizable recent study sheds light on the working conditions in Mexico’s massive export agriculture sector, a key source of fresh produce for U.S. consumers.
For the study, several thousand jornaleros, or farmworkers, were surveyed between 2019 and this year in several Mexican states, including Baja California, Sinaloa and Jalisco.
“The average (monthly) salary that we found was 6,807 pesos,” said Omar Stibridis, a researcher with the Colegio de la Frontera Norte, who recently presentedthe results at the Colegio de Sonora in Hermosillo. That’s about $320, and higher than what Mexico’s national statistics and geography institute (INEGI) has found for farmworkers generally, according to Stibridis.
But there was also substantial regional variation, ranging from nearly $500 in Baja California to just $270 in Michoacán. They also found that men were paid about 20% more than women in the fields.
