of the immigration legislation may not have been felt in 1987, the information
obtained provides a solid benchmark for labor conditions and producer concerns at the
time. With this in mind,-we selected several key issues from the 1987-88 study and
examined them again for the 1992 calendar year. Major questions asked include: (1)
the number of firms hiring temporary/seasonal workers directly or through contractors,
(2) average hourly wage rates for selected tasks, (3) attitudes about supply of
seasonal workers in peak week, and (4) producers views regarding the impact of IRCA
on labor supply.
 The sample of respondents for the 1993 survey was obtained from trade
association member lists for foliage, woody ornamental, and cut fern growers. Fern
growers were chosen randomly by selecting every n* producer. Foliage and woody
growers were selected semi-randomly in that the sample focused on larger firms. The
rationale for this approach was that more information can generally be obtained from
larger businesses; larger businesses also comprise the greater share of the industry
with regard to volume of sales. A survey instrument was developed based on
questions from the 1987-88 study. Due to the small amount of time available, a
decision was made to conduct the survey by phone utilizing a professional market
survey organization. From a target population of 183 potential respondents, 54
completed questionnaires were obtained representing a 30 percent response rate
(Table 2).


Employment and Wage Rate Information

 In contrast to fruit and vegetable industries, year around employment is much
 more common for ornamentals producers, except ferneries (9). In 1992, roughly 60
 percent of ornamental nurseries interviewed claimed to utilize direct hire only (Table
 3). This represents a considerable decline since 1987 when 94 percent reported
 hiring labor directly. Similarly, the number of respondents claiming to hire indirectly
 through labor contractors increased from 3 to 13 percent, and those indicating some
 form of both methods grew from 3 percent to 28 percent between 1987 and 1992.
 In other words, based on results of these two studies, there was a discernable shift
 towards greater use of indirect labor. How much of this is due to IRCA and how
 much can be attributed to other factors, is unclear. For instance, one response to
 increased competition and narrower profit margins which has been a common
 experience for Florida ornamental producers, is to reduce the permanent labor force.
 This would be particularly true in locations where seasonal labor is readily available.
 Average hourly wage rates were also examined to determine if changes
 occurred during the past five years. One might expect, for example, that if the impact
 of IRCA did reduce the supply and availability of labor for the nursery industry, wage
 rates would increase to offset this trend. Three types of hand skills were identified
 for wage rate estimation: potting/planting, hand harvesting, and packing/shipping
 (Table 4). Although the latter activity was not examined in the 1987 study, it was