Status in Employment in the Agricultural Sector and Analysis Demand Factors : Evidence from Gangwon, South Korea

Abstract

A decline in the native agricultural labor force causes difficulties in the acquisition of laborers, and a continued increase in agricultural labor costs results in increased hardships for farm owners. For this study, Gangwon Province was selected as a sample for its top national ranking for agricultural disposable income, and analyzed for decisive factors in employment demand in consideration of the interrelationship between domestic and foreign labor. The main outcomes are as follows. Firstly, the demand for domestic and foreign labor possesses a ‘supplementary relationship’. This indicates that when acquiring an agricultural labor force, such relational demands in the labor force must be taken into consideration. Secondly, regular employment demand for domestic and foreign labor in each regional category are different, indicating the necessity of the “Gangwon Agricultural Employment Demand Platform (Tentative)” based on the current stature of regional agricultural industries within Ganwon Province. Finally, there is a necessity for the preferential matching of the regular labor force for farming operations targeting start-up farms by youth and agricultural organization participants.