Rural Social Structure and the Agricultural Labor Market: Sharqiyya Evidence and Policy Implications

摘要

An investigation of the socioeconomic composition of rural Egypt was based on data collected from eight villages in Sharqiyya. Income sources of landless workers and landowning farmers were compared, with the former group receiving over 90 percent of its income doing farm work for others. Mechanization of the tasks now performed by these hired workers might, therefore, entail a high social cost. In contrast, landowning farmers, even those with very small parcels, derive most of their income from crops and animals on their farms. Women do a considerable amount of labor on the farm--work that is seriously undercounted in official labor statistics.