Quantity of agricultural labor has declined over time as quality of farm labor has grown

Over time, the quantity of labor used in agriculture, such as the number of hours worked, has declined, and the quality of labor (measured as a combination of education, age, sex, and employment type) has increased. USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) researchers measure agricultural labor with both quality and quantity measures as part of tracking the productivity of the industry. The volume-based quantity of labor used in agriculture has declined since 1948 partly because farmers have substituted other inputs, such as machinery and technology, for labor. At the same time, quality-related worker characteristics have changed. For instance, today’s agricultural workers have higher education levels than in the past, and they are accomplishing more per hour. According to ERS estimates, from 1948 to 2019, labor quantity declined by 83 percent, and labor quality increased 53 percent. Economists also calculate quality-adjusted labor input to take into account both the composition of the workforce as well as the number of hours input used in agricultural production. Quality-adjusted labor use in agricultural production declined by 74 percent, almost 2 percent a year. For more on U.S. agricultural productivity trends, see the ERS topic page Agricultural Research and Productivity and the ERS data product Agricultural Productivity in the United States. This chart appears in the ERS report Measurement of Output, Inputs, and Total Factor Productivity in U.S. Agricultural Productivity Accounts, published in August 2024.