Labour market and agricultural population

Abstract

The article analyses situation on the labour market in 1999–2003, with particular focus on the agricultural population, and explains the pressure that forces agricultural employers to reduce their full-time staff and rely more on the seasonal and short-term employment arrangements. In the recent past, the segment of rotating workers (who take up short-term seasonal jobs between periods of unemployment), has taken on quite a significant dimension. The article also analyses territorial aggregations with high incidence of agricultural unemployment. It points at the regular, seasonal and increased layouts of agricultural workers who end up in the register of unemployed. It identifies the social risk connected with the seasonal type of work arrangements in agriculture from the viewpoint of the labour and social protection and increased social marginalisation of this social group.