Agricultural employment in less developed countries : general situation, research approaches and policy palliatives

Traditionally, most development plans have had as their objective the growth of the GNP; however, this growth is not sufficient to absorb the growing labor force. The need for a major effort to create jobs and eliminate the waste of human resources is critical. Increasing birth rates and declining death rates, inappropriate pricing systems, inadequate fiscal systems, inadequate functioning of factor and product markets, biases of foreign investors and government agencies contribute to the rural unemployment problem. An employment strategy should include rural works programs, research, correcting of factor prices, and alternative procedures for lending agencies in order to reconcile growth and employment objectives so as to alleviate rural unemployment. 30 references.