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Project

Labour markets and rural development: Perspectives on gender, migration and decent work

In recent decades, the rural labour markets of low and middle-income countries have changed tremendously. Off-farm employment forms a significant and growing share of household income portfolios, with employment in the agri-food sector playing a central role. In this thesis I aim to investigate the contribution of agri-food systems employment to rural development. More specifically, I unravel the links between agri-food systems employment and decent work, inclusive work, and migration. I focus on two specific case studies, namely, the horticultural sector in Senegal and Peru. In both countries, the agri-food sector has been growing tremendously over the past two decades, and this growth contributed to some important rural labour market developments.

In the second chapter, I investigate the inclusiveness of the horticultural sector in Senegal and evaluate the job quality. I compare job quality between men and women, youth and older workers, migrant and local workers, and agro-industrial companies and smallholder farms. I do this using primary research data, regressions, and a decomposition analysis. To determine the job quality, I look at the wages of the employees, and I calculate a decent work index that includes several dimensions of a job. I show that agro-industrial companies are inclusive towards vulnerable groups, such as women, youth and migrant workers, and offer better jobs than smallholder farmers. On the other hand, I find that women, young, and migrant workers in agro-industrial companies have a lower job quality than men, older and local workers.

In the third chapter, I examine the relationship between gender inequality, job quality, and job satisfaction. I use primary research data from the horticultural sector of Senegal, and use a mediation analysis to unravel direct and indirect relationships between gender and job satisfaction. I find a positive relationship between job quality and job satisfaction. Paradoxically, I also find that women are more satisfied with their job than men, despite their lower job quality. Nevertheless, I show that gender inequality negatively affects women's job satisfaction, and that eliminating this inequality can have a positive effect on women's mental well-being.

In the fourth chapter, I examine how decent and equal work in the agri-food sector can be promoted. I focus on the horticultural sector of Peru, and, as in Chapter 2, I study job quality by means of wages and a decent work index. I use a regression analysis to study the potential impact of different mechanisms on decent work, and a decomposition analysis to study the impact on equal work. In line with the results from Chapter 2, I find that women and migrant workers have a lower job quality than men and local workers. I reveal that farm workers receive lower wages but better working conditions than non-farm workers. Finally, I find that mainly formalizing work is an important driver of decent work as well as equal work.

In the fifth chapter, I examine the welfare effects of labour migration to the agri-food sector, and to rural areas. More specifically, for different income groups and different regions of Peru, I study whether the welfare impact of temporary labour migration varies by geographical and sectoral destination. I use panel data and a combination of different econometric techniques. I find that the welfare gain is positive for every destination, and is higher for poorer households. Temporary labour migration to the non-agricultural food sector results in lower welfare effects than migration to the agricultural sector or to the non-agri-food sector. On the other hand, I find no differences between migration to rural, peri-urban or urban destinations. Therefore, I therefore conclude that, subject to some differences, labour migration to any destination has the potential to increase the welfare of rural households and emphasize that migration and employment in agricultural and rural areas are just as important as migration to more urban and industrial areas.

Finally, I conclude that the agri-food sector can be an important source of employment for vulnerable groups such as women, youth, and migrants in low- and middle-income countries, and can contribute to increased welfare in the regions of origin of migrant workers. Moreover, agro-industrialization can contribute to more decent jobs in rural areas. Nevertheless, my results show that sufficient attention should be paid to any differences between wage and non-wage work conditions, and the lower job quality of vulnerable workers. Decent work and equal work are important for workers' mental well-being, and this can be promoted, among other things, by formalizing employment in the sector. 

Date:15 May 2018 →  12 Dec 2022
Keywords:Value chains
Disciplines:Agriculture, land and farm management, Applied economics, Economic development, innovation, technological change and growth
Project type:PhD project