An investigation was conducted to determine the impact of economic and
non-economic factors on the off-farm work efforts of Oregon farm husbands and
wives. A total of 283 Oregon farm households (with husbands and wives) were
randomly selected from lists of persons deferring taxes for farm purposes, obtained
from County Assessors' offices in each of eight randomly selected counties.
Counties with larger number of farms had a higher probability of being selected.
Data came from an Oregon State University Agricultural Experiment Station study
conducted during 1988-89.
The empirical findings from the maximum likelihood Tobit model showed
plausible directional impacts. Off-farm wage rate, the basis of a reduced labor
supply model, was the key variable in explaining off-farm work. Wives' off-farm work
response to off-farm wage was more elastic when compared to husbands' off-farm
work. Additional significant variables to affect either or both husbands' and wives'
total off-farm work were total farm debt, husband's age, education, urban/rural
location of farm, net farm income, age-square, farm life satisfaction, and total family
income before tax.
Education was positively related to off-farm work only for wives. Results also
indicate that high levels of net farm income as well as farm debt reduce the
likelihood and extent of off-farm work. The location of the farm closer in proximity to
metropolitan areas, was a significant factor in increased off-farm work hours.
Farm life satisfaction was negatively significant for both wives and husbands.
The effect of farm life satisfaction was more prominent for wives than for husbands.
Total family income was significant and negatively related to wives' off-farm work
but not husbands, indicating that women may be more sensitive to a choice for
leisure or household work and the motivation for husbands' off-farm work may be
higher. Despite a substantial incidence of low profitability and low farm income from
farming and some unhappiness and hard work, these farmers generally reported a
high level of satisfaction with their farming operations. Any policy implications based
on the findings of this study must be cautiously interpreted based on farm types and
the work motivation of farmers in Oregon. / Graduation date: 1996
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/34580 |
| Date | 12 January 1996 |
| Creators | Rauniyar, Krishna K. P. |
| Contributors | Olson, Geraldine I. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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