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- Info
Off-farm employment and the rural-urban interface in Japanese economic development
| Author: |
Kada, Ryohei |
| Date: |
1986 |
| Periodical: |
In: Shand, R.T., ed. Off-farm Employment in the Development of Rural Asia, 1983 August 23-26; Chiang Mai, Thailand.Canabera A.C.T.: National center for Development Studies, Australian National University |
| Abstract: |
Japanese agriculture has undergone extensive changes in the period since 1945, especially with regard to part-time farming. Off-farm jobs for the farming population per se are not a recent phenomenon in rural Japan. It was common for rural people to work as craftsmen or local merchants even before the Meiji Restoration (1886), and prior to World War II virtually all farm youngsters except the successor son left rural areas to seek urban jobs. Rural-urban relations have remained very close throughout the modern history of Japan. Now, however, the nature of part-time farming is quite different. In the late 1950’s and early 1960s the Japanese economy passed through a turning point from a labor-abundant to labor-scarce economy, and the rapid decline in the absolute size of the farm labor force started. Rapid expansion of employment opportunities was provided for the rural population. By the mechanism of so-called push-pull factors, part-time farming has intensified. Industry has both decentralized and expanded rapidly into rural areas, making off-farm jobs available even for the heads of farm families and their wives. Government road and railroad construction programs have served to accelerate movement of industry into these areas, and off-farm jobs have changed in nature from casual, part time to long term or permanent employment. This paper briefly outlines the extent and trend of off-farm employment, examines the nature of adjustments in part-time farming, and evaluates the role of off-farm employment in the rural-urban interface in postwar Japanese economic development (Kada 1980 and 1983; Kada and Cook 1980; OED1977) |
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