Employment Is Up With Cherry Producers

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By Melissa Wagner

Story Published: Jul 14, 2009 at 5:43 PM PDT

Cherry Producers are taking a bite out of local unemployment. They have more fruit than they know what to do with and year-round workers are busier than ever. It means there's no downtime and a consistent paycheck. But with the bumper crop, there is also a downside hitting the orchards.

The shiny, fresh-picked cherries hit the conveyor belt, before they're shipped to other states, or even other countries. More than 200 semi-trucks full of cherries are on the road every day in Washington, transporting 200,000 boxes of fruit this year. That's almost a fifth more than the last record year for Washington. It's also a boom to those on the production line. " We've had no problem getting people this year. About 65 percent of our workforce is people who are in the packing plants in Yakima," said Richard Gonzales, General Manager of L&M Northwest Cherries.

In fact, employment is up 30% for cherry producers. And there's no shortage of folks looking to fill any vacant spot. " We've had slightly more people I think apply for positions in the packing facility," said Gonzales.

Employment is up on the production side of the cherry business but that's not good for seasonal workers who come to harvest the cherries. They're finding that the fruit is still on the trees but there's so many cherries already in the warehouses they can't put any more in, so the seasonal workers have left our state looking for more work.

The director of WorkSource Yakima says he's seen a significant drop in seasonal workers. Those who are left are hoping to find work thinning the apple trees. But because the cherry harvest came to an abrupt end, there may be more workers than jobs right now.

Not only that, but Yakima will also lose out on more sales tax revenue. When they're here, seasonal workers spend money. With a shorter cherry harvest, that money will now be spent in other cities and states.

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