Problem
Declining agricultural work
Other Names:
Excess farm workersDeclining agricultural workforce
Incidence:
Because of the flight from the land and the modernization of farming methods, the percentage of the EEC/EU's working population engaged in farming has fallen from 21% in 1960 to 13% in 1970, to under 7% in 1989 (8% if forestry and fishing were included).
Increasingly fewer people were working in agriculture in the European Union. Only in 1998, the agricultural sector lost the equivalent of 115,000 full-time workers, equal to 1.7% of total employment in agriculture. The sharpest fall occurred in Germany, Greece and Sweden. Only in Spain and the Netherlands was there a slight increase. The rural exodus, and the move from farms to factories and to the services sector, began a long time ago in Europe. The movement has accelerated sharply in the course of the previous 20 years, however. Employment in agriculture, measured in terms of full-time jobs, fell from 12.4 million in 1979 to 6.7 million in 1998 in the 15-nation EU as a whole.
Broader Problems:
ExcessRural unemploymentDecreasing labour force Aggravates:
Declining community populationStructural rigidities in labour marketsDisruptive rural to urban migrationInadequate conditions of work of agricultural workers Reduces:
Farm-bound labour force Subject(s):
Agriculture, Fisheries → AgricultureAgriculture, Fisheries → Farming
Social Activity → Human resources
Social Activity → Work
Social Activity → Workers
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Problem Type:
E: Emanations of other problems Date of last update
06.08.2019 – 19:29 CEST