Estimating the price elasticity of demand for family and hired farm labour in England and Wales

Abstract

The agricultural workforce in the UK has been declining since the middle of the last century. However, the different types of agricultural labour have been variously affected, and hence the composition of the agricultural workforce has been undergoing continuous change. These changes in the structure of the agricultural workforce have serious implications not only for the policy makers but also for farm workers and farm businesses and those that service their needs. The study compares and explores the own price elasticity of demand for two groups of agricultural labour - that of family and hired - to enable the effects of agricultural policy on the structure of the agricultural workforce in both the short and long run to be estimated. This was done using two different methodologies - single equation and duality based system models. The similarities in the resulting elasticities give confidence in the estimates. These estimates can be used to help forecast the future structure of the agricultural workforce.