Guánica (Puerto Rico) (AFP)

In Puerto Rico, farms are calling on workers from Central America in the face of a shortage of local labor, some employees choosing to live off unemployment and pandemic aid rather than tending to the crops , which bring in less money.

On the Gonzalez farm, located in the town of Guanica, in the southwest of this Caribbean island, a group of Mexican farm workers collect hay using a baler, while others wash bananas or still tie tomato plants to stakes.

"It's really good. Compared to what we usually have, it's perfect," said Abigain Sebastian, 22, without taking his eyes off the tomatoes that he quickly ties together.

"In Mexico, the most I could earn is seven dollars a day," he continues.

In Puerto Rico, Abigain receives $ 7.25 an hour, which is the federal minimum wage in the United States.

The young man arrived in Puerto Rico last week.

He is part of an initial group of 21 farm workers from the state of Chiapas, Mexico, under the US H-2A visa program for temporary agricultural workers.

With this money, Abigain Sebastian will be able to help his mother, who is raising her 14-year-old little sister on her own, he says, wearing long sleeves and a hat to protect herself from the onslaught of the sun.

For Puerto Ricans, on the other hand, 7.25 dollars an hour is not enough, despite an unemployment rate of 9.2%.

Due to the pandemic, as in the rest of the American territories, the unemployed of Puerto Rico receive in addition to their allowances, an aid of 300 dollars per week provided for in the gigantic economic recovery plan promulgated by Joe Biden in early March.

Juan Santiago, who lives near the Gonzalez farm, lost his job in February and saw his salary of $ 290 per week disappear.

However, he currently receives 540 dollars a week, which includes his unemployment benefit and this recently adopted assistance of 300 dollars.

"I have a better situation than when I was working," said Mr. Santiago to AFP.

"I could not have made so much on the farm. The wages are low for the workers on the farms. Another problem is the sun," he adds.

A handful of American states, such as Texas and Pennsylvania, have introduced the federal minimum wage of $ 7.25 per hour, like Puerto Rico.

Most other states have set a minimum wage of around $ 10 an hour, according to figures from the US Department of Labor.

- Logical consequence -

For economist José J. Villamil, the labor market in Puerto Rico "is dysfunctional".

"Since there is a significant wage gap on the island and in other American states, for a Puerto Rican worker, it is relatively easy to go to the mainland and have a higher pay," he wrote. it Monday in the local newspaper, El Nuevo Dia.

Aid related to the pandemic is another disruptive factor.

"Obviously, the interest of working for 7.25 dollars is lost, and it makes sense," he analyzes.

Puerto Rico needs 1,000 to 1,500 farm workers, according to Hector Cordero, president of the island's farmers' association, who told a local radio station that a group of Honduran workers was due to arrive soon.

If the owner of the Gonzalez farm, Carlos Gonzalez, accuses his compatriots of having lost "the culture of work", he recognizes that the labor drain is not only due to federal aid.

This Caribbean archipelago has been hit in quick succession by two category four hurricanes and a series of earthquakes that have exacerbated the financial crisis that has already raged for a decade.

"And with the pandemic, I'm not even telling you," laments Mr. Gonzalez.

Because of these permanent crises, Puerto Rico, which has a population of 3.1 million, saw its population decrease by 14.3% compared to 2010, according to the US Census Bureau.

"Everything has accumulated and the workforce has evaporated," said Carlos Gonzalez, who cultivates bananas, tomatoes, onions and pumpkins on his farm.

But "this situation does not date from today", he concludes.

"It is a historical phenomenon that comes from our colonial history."

© 2021 AFP