Employment in individual agriculture in the period of transformation and European integration

• Main Author: Bożena Karwat-Woźniak
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Life Sciences in Poznań 2009-01-01
• Series: Journal of Agribusiness and Rural Development
• Subjects: employment in individual agriculture; labour inputs
• Online Access: http://www.jard.edu.pl/tom13/zeszyt3/art_10.pdf

Neuralgic problem of Polish agriculture is the excessive number of workers engaged in this sector. Advancing the desirable structural changes mostly involves the reduction in the number of persons employed in agricultural production. In this regard, paper is aimed in assessment of changes in professional activity of agricultural population and employment in individual agriculture. The main empirical material are the findings from field survey conducted by the IAFE-NRI that covered approximately 4 thousand of family farms of more than 1 ha of agricultural land. It may be concluded that progress in transition of Poland’s economy and agriculture to competitive market needs, were accompanied by a major reduction in employment and improvement in the process of work professionalisation in agricultural sector. However, Polish agriculture is still characterised by the excessive number of workers and large scale of unutilized labour resources (17 per cent – a redundant rate).