LOCAL ECONOMIC-STRUCTURE AND OFF-FARM LABOR EARNINGS OF FARM OPERATORS AND SPOUSES

Off-farm income has become an increasingly important source of farm ho usehold income in the past twenty years. While research has examined f arm households' decision to work off-farm, our understanding of how a region's economic structure influences the off-farm labour decision is not strong. This manuscript uses Huffman's conceptual model for farm households' level of off-farm earnings. Results show that higher relat ive employment in sectors which offer more flexible work schedules irs strongly associated with higher off-farm labour earnings.