AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION Oregon State College Uta. A. Schoenfeld, Director Corvallis Circular of Information No. 341 May 1944 YOUTH LABOR EFFICIENCY IN HARVESTING SWEET CHERRIES WILLAMETTE VALLEY, OREGON* The acreage of cherries in Oregon in 1943 was approximately 15,200, mostly of sweet varieties. Wasco County has the largest acreage. Several other eastern Oregon and southern Oregon counties produce cherries. However, over one-half of the commercial acreage of cherries in Oregon is in the Willamette Valley. For detailed acreage by counties and production statistics in Oregon see Oregon State College Extension Bulletin 631. Sweet cherries in Oregon require a large amount of seasonal labor for harvest during June and July. The shortage of men pwing to the war has required the assistance of older people and youth for harvesting many crops in Oregon, including cherries. The recruitment and placement of thousands of such workers has presented a major problem, involving estimates of the number needed for which information on relative efficiency has been inadequate. The data that follow should assist materially in meeting harvest labor problems on sweet cherries in 1944. It would be desirable to collect more complete data during the harvest season to supplement the information contained in this preliminary release. During the summer of 1943, records were obtained from 637 young persons harvesting sweet cherries, working in platoons in Marion County. These records provided data on quantities picked per day by these young people, by age and sex. These records together with information from other records of adult workers referred to in footnote one of Table 3 were analyzed and the results are presented in Tables 1, 2, 3, and 4, and in Figure 1. Table 1 presents a general summary of the work done by the platoons included in the study. The data show that one or more platoons worked 30 days between June 23 and July 23 inclusive. The 637 youth did 3,784 days of work and picked 280,220 pounds of cherries during the period an average of 74.1 pounds per picker per day. A preliminary release prepared by D. Curtis Mumford, Head, and John H. Blosser, Research Assistant, Department of Farm Management, Division of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Experiment Station; and L. R. Breithaupt, Project Leader, Agricultural Economics Section, Extension Service. Special acknowledgment is due the Marion County Snergency Farm Labor Service, Extension Service and United States Employment Service, cooperating.
The relative efficiency for each age group in percentage of a group aged 18 to 55 years is shown in Table 2. The amount of work done per day by the workers between the ages of 18 and 55 has been taken as 100 per cent since these ages are normally considered as adult labor. The relative efficiency of each group is, therefore, shown as a percentage of the work done by the adults. For example, the data indicate that the boys under 14 on the average picked 48 per cent as much as was picked by the adults from 18 to 55 years of age who averaged 143 pounds. (See footnote 1, Table 3.) In Table 3 and Figure 1 the results are shewn to indicate the relative amounts of work done by 314 pickers in 12 age groups. Only records for youth who worked 5 or more days were included. It will be seen that youth under 13 years averaged 60 pounds per day while pickers 31 to AO years of age averaged 152 pounds per day. The older youth, however, were able to pick larger amounts, particularly boys. As shown by Table 2, men and boys picked considerably more cherries per day than women and girls of like ages. Picking sweet cherries requires handling ladders and climbing into tall trees. The data indicated that pickers with one or more years of experience will generally harvest 10 per cent more cherries per day than pickers of the same age without experience. As previously stated, the 637 youth did 3,784 days of work during the 30-day cherry picking season. In Table 4 is shown the regularity of individual pickers. For example, 134. pickers worked only one day during the season and only one picker worked as much as 21 days. The average days worked for all of the 637 youth was approximately six days. The maximum number working any one day during the season was 262. As has been indicated, these youth were organized into platoons. The workers had been given some preliminary training and were under the supervision of adult leaders. Transportation was furnished by the employers.
Table 1. Summary of work done by 637 youth working in 10 platoons picking sweet cherries, Salem, Marion County, Oregon, 1943: pickers, and total and average quantity picked, daily. Total Average ' pickers pounds pounds. picked Date by days picked per picker June 23 36 2,460 68.3 24 131 9,406 71.8 25 206 15,012 72.9 26 172 9,678 56.3 27 a 4,492 109.6 28 231 17,106 74.0 29 169 13,843. 81.9 30 112 9,873 88.2 July 1 220 17,106 77.8 2 216 15,665 72.5 3 36 2,018 56.1 4 13 1,140 87.7 5 213 16,932 79.5 6 262 18,072 69.0 7 211 14,960 70.9 8 163 9,875 60.6 9 202 14,965 74.1 10 175 15,989 91.4 11 32 3,183 99.5 12 204 15,082 73.9 13 247 18,798 76.1 14 ' 214 14,651 68.5 15 120 7,175 59.8 16 28 1,083 38.7 17 11 403 36.6 18 19 21 1,237 58.9 20 26 2,399 92.3 21 26 2,984 114.8 22 27 3,312 122.7 23 19 1,321 69.5 All season 3,784 y 280,220 74.12/ 1/ Total picker days worked. 2/ Weighted average pounds picked per day.
Table 2. Relative Efficiency of 314 Sweet Cherry Pickers by Age and Sex Willamette Valley, Oregon, 19-43 (143 pounds per day = 100 per cent) I. nt,.. i.. - -. i.,,-_. i-,i ii Sex Index (per cent) Under H years Boys 48 Girls 44 14.-17 years Boys 68 Girls 52 18-55 years 1/... Men 113 Women 96 1/ See footnote 1, Table 3. Table 3. Average Pounds o_f Svreet Cherries Picked per Picker per Day b 4C. & r<j? s» 33-4 Pickers. Willamette Valley, Oregon, 1943 Average amount Age group picked per day. Actual 17 Adjusted 2/ ~" (pounds) (pounds) Under 13 years 60 60 13 years. 74 67 14 years 80 76 15 years 87 87 16 years 88 98 17 years 113 113 18-20 years 129 129 21-30 years... 142 144 31-40 years 152 152 41-50 years 151 151 51-60 years 142 138 Over 60 years 100 ; 100 All ages 110 110 1/ The figures for the age groups 18-20 and older were calculated by a somewhat arbitrary method using actual records for 27 adults who picked sweet cherries on oue farm in Bent or;. County in 1943, and the results of a survey of the relative efficiency of sour cherry pickers of various ages reported in Station Circular of Information No. 340. 2/ The actual figures were adjusted to fit a smoothed curve. These data are charted in Figure 1.
Table 4. Regularity of Individual Sweet Cherry Pickersi 637 children in 10 platoons. 30-day picking season Salem, Marion County, Oregon, 1943 days picked pickers days picked pickers 1 134 2 89 3 63 4 51 5 40 6 25 7 27 8 23 9 22 10 24 11 21 12 24 13 34 14 12 15 18 16 9 17 8 18 6 19 3 20 2 21 1
Figure 1. Estimated average number of pounds of sweet cherries picked per day according to age of picker. (314 pickers, VJillamette Valley, Oregon, 1943) 240 220 200 % 180 u g 160 8,140 120 ^ Sweet cherries 100 80 60 40 Prepared by Department of Farm Management Oregon State College May 1944 20 Under 13 13 Age of pickers 14 15 16 17 18 21 31 a 51 Over to to to to to 60 20 30 40 50 60