On the Interplay Between Duration of Employment, Relational Quality and Wages—Results About Non-Family Farm Workers in Switzerland

Abstract

Our knowledge on non-family farm workers has been hampered by a lack of reliable and relevant data. This study tackled this problem by asking Swiss managers of fruit, wine and vegetable farms about their employees. Using a dataset of 921 employees, we explain the duration of the labour contract, the level of wages and the relational quality between employers and workers. The level of wages and other resources like shelter are linked to employment duration but also to social factors like joint social events or the perception of relational quality by employers. Workers with the liberty to allocate their labour time have better relationships with their employers. The best wages are paid to full-time male employees with agricultural education residing in Switzerland. The fact that Swiss citizens receive a significant reduction in their payment compared to foreigners may point to a grey zone between unpaid family labour and market-based employment relations.