Off-Farm Employment and Economic Crisis: Evidence from Cyprus

Elias Giannakis, Sophia Efstratoglou and Artemis Antoniades
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Elias Giannakis: Energy, Environment and Water Research Center, The Cyprus Institute, 20 Konstantinou Kavafi Street, 2121 Nicosia, Cyprus
Sophia Efstratoglou: Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos, 11855 Athens, Greece
Artemis Antoniades: Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Louki Akrita, 1412 Nicosia, Cyprus

Agriculture, 2018, vol. 8, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Off-farm employment is an important strategy for complementing farm household income and maintaining rural livelihoods. A multilevel logistic regression model was applied to investigate the effect of farm-level and regional-level factors on off-farm employment in Cyprus during the recent economic crisis period. The performance of nonfarm sectors positively affects off-farm employment; a one-percent increase in the share of the secondary and tertiary sector employment increases the likelihood of off-farm work by 9.5 times. The importance of location was also identified. Farm households located in rural areas are 70% less likely to engage in off-farm work than households located in urban areas. The positive effect of educational attainment and the negative effect of farm training confirmed the importance of human capital characteristics on off-farm labour participation. Farm structural factors are also significant determinants of off-farm employment. A one-hectare increase in the farm size decreases the odds of off-farm labour participation by 50%. Operators of crop farming holdings are 4.2 times more likely to work off the farm than operators of livestock and mixed-farming holdings. The results reveal the importance of adopting a multilevel and integrated approach for the analysis of off-farm employment.

Keywords: off-farm employment; economic crisis; multilevel modelling; logistic regression model; contextual effects; education; farm size; farm type; Cyprus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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