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The Impact of Local Labor Market Conditions on the Off-Farm Earnings of Farm Operators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2016

Lewell Gunter
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics at theUniversity of Georgia, Athens, GA
Kevin T. McNamara
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics at theUniversity of Georgia, Athens, GA

Abstract

Local labor market characteristics are theoretically relevant to the determination of off-farm earnings of farm operators, but the empirical analysis of these effects has been hindered by a lack of appropriate data. This study employs the new census public use micro-data sample, PUMS-D, to investigate the effect of local labor market characteristics on off-farm earnings of farm operators. The PUMS-D data allow local characteristics to be defined on a labor market area basis, rather than on a political boundary basis. For a sample of Georgia farm operators, local labor market size, unemployment rates, and industrial structure were found to have significant impacts on off-farm employment and earnings.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 1990

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