MILWAUKEE (AP) — The average wage for agricultural workers in the Upper Midwest has dropped 70 cents an hour in the past year.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service says the average wage for agricultural workers in the lake region of Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota was just over $11 an hour during the week of Jan. 11. It says that's down 70 cents an hour from January 2008.
But workers in the Midwest earned more than those nationwide. The average hourly wage in those three states was $11.02 compared to $10.93 nationwide.
Livestock and field workers earned less on average. NASS says the average wage for a livestock worker in the lake region was just under $10 an hour, while field workers who plant, harvest and operate machinery earned an average of $10.83 an hour.