![]() We choose these industries because of their large total value of fresh production-almost $3.2 billion in 2013-and their geographic spread across the contiguous states-32 for pome and 20 for prunus (USDA-NASS). pome (apple) and prunus (peach) commodity markets. The output markets we consider are the U.S. The input markets are the pre-harvest and post-harvest labor markets. Both output markets draw employment from each input labor market. To understand the effects of a pre-harvest labor shortage on the post-harvest labor and output commodity markets, we consider an economy that comprises two input markets and two output markets. For example, we classify production workers and the managers of production workers as pre-harvest tasks. The partition of tasks is not based on the education or experience of the workers. Our partition of tasks into pre-harvest and post-harvest is based on the description and timing of each occupation related to crop support. We also include in post-harvest activities those tasks related to management, operations, bookkeeping, marketing, purchasing, and sales. It is the stage of the process covering the cooling, cleaning, sorting, packing, and transporting of products to consumers. Post-harvest is the time when the bulk of the crop is separated from its parent plant to purchase by a consumer. Pre-harvest activities are those related to construction, soil preparation, grounds maintenance, farming, production, and harvest. ![]() ![]() We define a labor shortage as the difference between the number of workers willing, able, and available to work and the number of workers desired by producers given the going market wage. That the economic consequences of pre-harvest labor shortages on post-harvest labor activities and downstream commodity markets are unknown is an important problem because of the frequency pre-harvest labor shortages are expected to occur in the future (Taylor et al. The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of a pre-harvest labor shortage on employment and wages in the post-harvest labor market, the price and quantity sold in output markets, and economic welfare. Although labor is necessary for growing and harvesting horticultural commodities, it is also an important input into managing, marketing, processing, packing, transporting, and distributing fresh commodities to market post-harvest. In papers such as Richards and Patterson ( 1998), labor shortages are usually thought of as a pre-harvest problem, and the economic impacts are estimated from models related to harvesting and production. ![]() Labor is an important input into the production and distribution of horticultural commodities and products. ![]()
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