09/01/06 Good Jobs, Good Pay

Good jobs with good pay. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. This week we've been taking a look at the fruit industry and the labor shortages currently associated with it. Many people view this as an immigration issue and while that is part of it the bottom line is there are plenty of jobs available for anyone. GEMPLER: That's one of the assumptions; frankly it's a little racist actually on the part of a lot of people that only Mexican immigrants pick apples. Mike Gempler, Executive Director of the Washington Growers is currently working with Worksource to train people to pick fruit. GEMPLER: We found that a lot of people in local areas seemed a little disconnected ; didn't feel like they had the right to go out I guess and apply for some of these field work jobs and we want to make sure that they know that we're interested in having anybody who wants to give it a try to come out and apply and a lot of the growers have just been great, interested in doing some training of people when they get out there. That's what we need so the community knows they have a part in it. No matter who they are if they want to make a little money they can come out and give it a try. And according to Gempler, there is some pretty good money to be made. GEMPLER: Red delicious will probably pay 13  14 a bin this year, golden delicious maybe 14-15 a bin anyways, even a beginner might be able to get out there and do six bins in a day and make themselves $80  $90 bucks and that's a good income opportunity for somebody for a couple of months. Contact your local Worksource for more information. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.