Labor Costs and the Packaging of Table Eggs 1962 to 1991

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the labor requirements and associated costs for cleaning, grading, and packaging table eggs in large and small processing plants in California in 1990/1991 and the long term trend in labor costs and plant and machine efficiencies over almost three decades. Ten off-line plants were studied in the 1990/91 survey: five plants processing less than 10,000 cases/wk (small plants) and five plants processing more than 10,000 cases/wk (large plants). In 1991 the average California plant processed 12,195 cases/wk. The typical large plant processed 17,954 cases/wk, where the small plants processed 6,436 cases/wk. The average plant processed 8.88 cases/man-hour at a labor cost of 3.1¢/doz. Machine efficiency averaged 77.0% and was similar for large and small plants. However, plant efficiencies (averaging 94.7%) varied greatly, with 118.6% for large compared to 70.8% for small plants. During the period 1962 to 1991, wage rates increased almost six-fold from $1.43/hr to $8.46/hr. At the same time cases/man-hour increased only three-fold from 2.95 to 8.88 cases. As a result, labor costs per dozen barely doubled (1.6 to 3.1¢). The use of high capacity equipment and better usage of the plant have allowed the industry to control labor costs. The higher efficiencies of machines and plant operations were found to be the major factors in cost containment.