stoop labor

American  

noun

1. the physical labor associated with the cultivation or picking of crops in farm fields, especially as performed by poorly paid, unskilled workers.

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stoop labor Idioms  

1. Back-bending manual work, especially farm work. For example, They had us picking peas all day, and that's too much stoop labor. [First half of 1900s]

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Etymology

Origin of stoop labor

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

The next generation is the key: Will the influx of remittances allow Comachuen’s young adults to build a life in Mexico, instead of doing stoop labor in U.S. fields?

From Seattle Times • Jan. 25, 2022

People show up for work cutting lettuce etc., stoop labor, and they last about half a day before they quit.

From Time • Feb. 19, 2013

His son, an aviator, was forced to stoop labor during the Terror.

From Time Magazine Archive

Pickers perform stoop labor for up to 10 hours a day; rarely get health insurance, despite chronic back injuries; and earn an average of only $8,500 for a seven-month season.

From Time Magazine Archive

The war siphoned off agricultural labor, particularly lowpaying, exhausting "stoop labor" along the lower Rio Grande, in New Mexico, Arizona and California.

From Time Magazine Archive