No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (doctoral)--Jāmiʻat al-Qāhirah, Cairo. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-231).

Diss. - Technische Universität, Berlin. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 242-250.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

No abstract available. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--New School University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 291-302).

The focus of the study is the wages and working conditions of farm labourers in commercial agriculture. After an outline examination of the broad trends in employment and wages in the agricultural industry as a whole, the emphasis falls on a micro-study of employment practices in the Eastern Cape magisterial district of Albany. The results of a survey of farmers was used to determine the level of wages, including payments in kind, the value of housing, cropping and grazing rights. It was found that cash wages made up only 25% of the total remuneration of R684 per annum, while purchased and farm produced rations made up a further 40% of the total. A survey conducted in the Albany district two decades previously was used to compare the real earnings in 1957 and 1977. Although real cash wages and rations increased over the twenty year period the restriction of cropping and grazing rights had the effect of keeping real earnings static. In the light of the improvement of other working conditions, such as the reduction in working hours, however, it is concluded that some increase in real wages did occur . It is evident that there are no clear-cut recipes for successful farm labour management and no unequivocal statements should be made about the most visible element, namely cash wages.

Using data collected by the Virginia Agricultural Statistical Service in 1989, off-farm labor participation models were developed to identify factors that influence the probability that a farm operator or spouse in Virginia would choose to work off the farm. The sample indicated that a substantial proportion of Virginia farms had at least one member working off the farm. Higher total incomes were also earned by families with an operator and/or spouse working off the farm. In addition, the proportion of total income originating from off-farm sources was large regardless of whether the operator or spouse worked off the farm or not. As a result of this survey, the picture developed of farm operators and spouses in Virginia is different than a traditional view of farming would support. Because of the dichotomous dependent variable and the different responses expected from the operator and spouse, probit analysis was selected to estimate separate participation models for the farm operator and spouse. The empirical results reveal that human capital, labor supply and labor demand characteristics influence the off-farm employment decisions of both the operator and spouse, though not in a uniform manner. Additionally, variables found to be important to off-farm labor force participation were primarily not farm specific. Changes in the non-farm economy are expected to affect the majority of Virginia farms more than changes in the farm economy. It is also clear that the majority of farm families in Virginia have a vested interest in efforts made to develop and strengthen the local economy. / Master of Science

Many authors have cited the relatively high unemployment rate as the most severe economic problem facing South Africa today. At the same time, government institutions claim that the agricultural sector can help solve the high unemployment rate, as this sector has the potential to create employment for a large number of unemployed South Africans. These institutions do not elaborate on how the sector will provide so many jobs. Published empirical studies on the South African (SA) agricultural sector have recommended ways in which policy-makers may achieve their goals of creating employment. However, most studies on labour considered the entire agricultural sector, whereas this study focuses on a sub-sector, namely the SA sugarcane sector. The study aims to analyse the potential of the sugarcane SA sector to create employment by estimating long- and short-run price (wage) elasticities of labour demand for large-scale sugarcane farms on the South Coast, in the Midlands and in Tugela/Zululand during 1984/1985-2008/2009. Using panel data, two models are estimated by Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Model 1 capturing labour use intensity and using “labour units employed per 1000 tonnes of cane cut” as the dependent variable, while Model 2 captures the total labour units demanded by large-scale sugarcane farmers. Only Model 2 is estimated using simultaneous equations as past studies indicate that labour use intensity may be analysed using single-equation models. For Model 1, the estimates of the long-run wage elasticities compared to the short-run wage elasticities are similar and around -0.5, -0.17 and -0.33 for the South Coast, Midlands and Tugela/Zululand regions, respectively. The wage elasticity estimates for Model 2 in the short-run were -0.34, -0.24 and -0.17 and in the long run -0.61, -0.42 and -0.30 for the South Coast, Midlands and Tugela/Zululand, respectively. The two econometric techniques (OLS and 3SLS) yielded similar wage elasticities. Results suggest that all labour demand estimates were wage inelastic, with the South Coast having a relatively greater response of labour demand to wage rate changes than the other two regions. Inelastic demand estimates for labour in all three regions may be due to the perennial, long-term nature of sugarcane and farmers taking time to decide how to respond to changes (hikes) in the price of labour. The decline in the demand for labour by large-scale sugarcane farmers due to an increase in real wage rates raises questions about the appropriateness of labour laws and minimum wage iii legislation that have increased the real cost of farm labour in the large-scale sugarcane sector of KZN. In order to reverse the rising farm labour unemployment trend in South Africa, the study recommends that policy-makers could rather adopt more flexible labour market regulations (for example, those relating to the hiring and dismissal of workers) that would reduce real labour costs and encourage local farmers to employ more labour on sugarcane farms. Furthermore, the land under sugarcane proved to be an important determinant of the demand for labour by large-scale sugarcane farmers and hence policies regarding land reform need to be revised and implemented more proficiently. Future research could focus on the skill-level of those workers who are affected the most following an increase in minimum wages and possible reasons why the KZN sugar industry is losing land to other land uses. / M.Sc.Agric. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2013.