05/09/07 Agricultural Recruitment System

With the on-going immigration issue and worker shortage the state of Washington Employment Security Division has unveiled a new system to try and connect producers and workers. Sheryl Hutchison is ESD's Communications Director says there are actually two systems. HUTCHISON: The H2A system as you know, we have used in the state before and that's a system for bringing in workers from other countries. As part of the H2A approval process we are required to actively recruit for domestic workers and one step in that recruitment does involve making sure people from other states have an opportunity to know about jobs here. But according to Hutchison there is another new part of process. HUTCHISON: What we are doing for the first time this year is also offering to growers the opportunity to just do the interstate recruitment apart from H2A if they wish, but anyone who does and H2A recruitment application will automatically involve some interstate recruitment. She says that other states who are using this system have had mixed results. HUTCHISON: Part of the issue is where we are recruiting workers from other states and do they have a surplus? What we were hearing last year is most other states did not have a surplus, they were short for workers, too so one of the things we are doing and have already begun to do is to talk to other states just to get a sense of their work force this year. For both producers and workers, Hutchison recommends contact your local employment office for more information. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.