Shortage of Ag Workers Could Help Solve Local Unemployment Rate - Central Coast News KION/KCBA

SALINAS, Calif. - Local growers can't understand why the unemployment rate is as high as it is on the Central Coast because they say they have plenty of job openings.

Growers Express in Salinas said something has to be done, in order to harvest in time and turn a profit. The company said the Ag industry should look into a program similar to Arizona's guest worker program.

The guest worker program uses people from Mexico with work visas to fill the empty spots. But Growers Express said it would make more sense to fill open positions with unemployed people locally.

Growers say that strawberry fields are the hardest ones to work in and that makes them the hardest jobs to fill.

Central Coast News went to the One Stop Career Salinas in Salinas to ask people looking for a hob if the would take a job as a fiend worker. Working in the field in not going to be an option for Victoria Mortez who said "its hard labor and I think I'm more capable of doing something better," said Mortez.