DIE INDIENSNEMING VAN PLAASWERKERS IN DIE RSA

H. D. van Schalkwyk and J. A. Groenewald

Agrekon, 1992, vol. 31, issue 4

Abstract: It was found from data in the Agricultural Census reports of 1976, 1981 and 1988 that the distribution of the amount of farm workers per hectare differs between statistical regions as defined by the Sentral Statistical Service. Cross-sectional functions were fitted to explain the differences. The following factors yielded the highest contributions: gross income, debt burden per hectare, compensation of workers, quality of resources and the amount of tractors in the region. The goverment's policy regarding interest rates, marketing and general aid has a significant influence on the mobility (demand and supply) of farm workers. Changes in Goverment aid to farmers may thus activate shifts of workers within and out of ariculture. The supply of farm workers is inelastic. This may be ascribed to the former act on influx control, low interest rates which caused labour substitution and the accompanying low compensation of farm workers. Labour is utilised suboptimally while unemployment is on the order of the day. Minimum wages are advocated by various circles as means to rectify the situation. Minimum wages may however lead to more capital/labour substitution and associated unemployment. Subsidisation of farm labour over a medium term should have a positive influence on employment. The subsidy should be phased out as employment approaches optimality.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Labor and Human Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1992
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/267537/files/agrekon-31-04-011.pdf (application/pdf)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/267537/files/a ... 1.pdf?subformat=pdfa (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:agreko:267537

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.267537

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Agrekon from Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().