Agricultural Worker Population Estimate—2020 Update
Population Estimate Update by the Employment and Training Administration
LSC has contracted with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) in the Department of Labor (DOL) to obtain updated data about the agricultural worker population living in poverty that LSC uses for allocating funding to service areas for Basic Field—Agricultural Worker grants. ETA will update the estimation methodology and the LSC Agricultural Worker Population estimates that ETA provided to LSC in 2016 (described below). ETA will provide the updated estimates to LSC in the fall of 2020.
LSC will provide grantees and stakeholders with information about the 2020 Agricultural Worker Population Estimates update on an ongoing basis through this webpage and through emails and direct communications .
To submit questions, comments and suggestions, email agworkerpopulation@lsc.gov.
To be added to the distribution list for announcements about this process, please email agworkerpopulation@lsc.gov with the subject: Updates.
Materials submitted to LSC for consideration will appear in the Stakeholder Input section, below.
Upcoming Events or Announcements
There will be a webinar briefing in the fall (date yet to be determined) to inform grantees about ETA’s preliminary 2020 LSC Agricultural Worker Population estimates and estimation methodology. We will post information about the webinar and other events on this webpage send announcements as they are scheduled.
Past Events and Other Resources
Webinar on Updating the 2016 Methodology (July 8, 2020)
This webinar summarized the work ETA will be conducting, described the 2016 methodology, identified potential changes to the 2016 estimation methodology, and solicited participants’ questions and suggestions.
- Video: Online Briefing—Updated Estimate of the LSC Agricultural Worker Population (92 minutes)
- Slide Deck 1—LSC Staff: LSC Agricultural Worker Population Estimate Update—Overview
- Slide Deck 2—ETA (Daniel Carroll and Susan Gabbard): LSC Agricultural Worker Population Estimate Update—ETA
Briefing to National Legal Aid and Defender Association Farmworker Section (May 21, 2020)
In this briefing, LSC staff provided to the Farmworker Section of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association an overview of the estimation methodology adopted in 2016, the allocation formula, and plans for the 2020 update.
Stakeholder Input
- National Legal Aid and Defender Association Farmworker Section Questions and Comments (July 1, 2020)
Current LSC Agricultural Worker Population Estimates and Estimation Methodology
In 2016, LSC updated the estimation methodology and the estimate of the LSC Agricultural Worker Population for the first time in over twenty years. The estimates reflected input LSC received during three public comment periods from January 2015 through July 2016.
The 2016 estimation methodology is set forth in three documents:
- January 2015 initial population estimate methodology.
- Memorandum from ETA to LSC with estimates of LSC-eligible agricultural worker population and explanation of estimation methodology (January 21, 2015).
- The methodology was provided with the initial estimates reported to the LSC Board in January 2015.
- February 2016 methodology for estimate of additional non-U.S. citizens who are victims of violence or crime.
- Estimate of the Population of Agricultural Workers Eligible for LSC-Funded Services Pursuant to 45 C.F.R. § 1626.4—Anti-Abuse Laws provided to the LSC Board (January 2016)
- August 2016 adjustments to the methodology based on public comments.
- Memorandum from ETA to LSC adopting three adjustments to the methodology (July 2016).
- The August adjustments were provided in conjunction with the Final Estimates–Tables I–VI (Excel), which the Board adopted in August of 2016
Those documents and additional, comprehensive information about the 2015–2016 process including the estimation methodology, public comments and the updated LSC Agricultural Worker Population estimates adopted by LSC are available at: