Nonpecuniary job preferences and welfare losses among migrant agricultural workers

Effects of nonprovision of job benefits and desirable working conditions are examined empirically for a sample of Mexican-American and illegal alien migrant agricultural workers. Welfare losses are identified in that the monetary value to workers of some absent benefits is greater than the cost to farm employers of providing the benefits. Workers' preferences for nonpecuniary benefits are also examined by socioeconomic characteristics. Illegal aliens exhibit equal or greater preference for fourteen of the fifteen nonpecuniary items under consideration.