OFF-FARM EMPLOYMENT
Question 7: Off-farm Work
Almost half of all farms surveyed had income from off-farm employment. Figure 2 shows the percentage of each farm type having off-farm employment income. Given the low level of profit shown in Table 8, it is not surprising that the percentage is higher for kiwifruit orchards than any other farm type.
| Table 9 : Proportion of all enterprises having specified household members working off-farm | ||||||||||
| Dairy | Sheep & Beef | Pipfruit | Kiwifruit | Cropping | ||||||
| Adults | ||||||||||
| Zero | 53.5 | 59.2 | 49.4 | 34.6 | 46.7 | |||||
| One | 36.6 | 29.8 | 41.0 | 40.7 | 36.7 | |||||
| Two | 7.9 | 10.2 | 8.4 | 19.8 | 16.7 | |||||
| Three | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 4.9 | 0 | |||||
| Four | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Children | ||||||||||
| One | 0 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 3.8 | 0 | |||||
| Two | 0 | 1.6 | 0 | 1.9 | 0 | |||||
Table 9 indicates who is undertaking off-farm work on the various farm types. For example, over half of dairy households have no one in off-farm employment, while 37% of dairy farms in the sample have one adult in off-farm work. None of the dairy farms have any children undertaking work off the farm. A different picture emerges for kiwifruit orchards, with almost 20% of them having two adults working off-farm and almost 5% with three adults employed off-farm. Almost 4% of kiwifruit orchards have one child engaged in off-farm work, and just under 2% have two children working off-farm.
Table 10 expands this picture by providing information on the number of hours worked by all household members, averaged for each farm type. Consistent with the information presented above, kiwifruit orchards have a significantly higher number of hours worked off-farm, especially when the median is considered.
| Table 10 : Number of Hours of Off-farm Work per week | |||||||||||
| Dairy | Sheep & Beef | Pipfruit | Kiwifruit | Cropping | |||||||
| Farms with Off-farm Work | Mean | 27.5 | 27.3 | 34.4 | 37.0 | 29.4 | |||||
| Median | 24.0 | 30.0 | 40.0 | 40.0 | 29.0 | ||||||
| Across All Farms | Mean | 15.6 | 12.9 | 20.3 | 36.7 | 19.9 | |||||
| Median | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 32.0 | 1.0 | ||||||
To better understand how much off-farm work is being undertaken by the household, Figure 3 converts the mean data from Table 10 into a percentage of a full-time job (where 37.5 hours per week is considered a full-time job equivalent).
Figure 3
This graph shows that the hours worked off-farm by household members on kiwifruit orchards equate on average to one full-time job. At the other end of the range, dairy and sheep and beef households on average work the equivalent of 73% of a full-time position off-farm.
Table 11 ranks the sample farms by the amount of off-farm work undertaken. Here we see that, overall, 55% of all farms surveyed had no off-farm work hours, while 83% had less than 40 hours. Only 5% had a total of 80 hours or more worked off-farm.
| Table 11 : Farms Ranked by Amount of Off-farm Work | |||
| Hours Off-farm Work Per Week | No. of Farms | % | Cumulative % |
| 0 | 333 | 55.2 | 55.2 |
| 0-7 | 37 | 6.1 | 61.4 |
| 8-15 | 24 | 4.0 | 65.3 |
| 16-23 | 21 | 3.5 | 68.8 |
| 24-31 | 32 | 5.3 | 74.1 |
| 32-39 | 54 | 9.0 | 83.1 |
| 40-47 | 18 | 3.0 | 86.1 |
| 48-55 | 21 | 3.5 | 89.6 |
| 56-63 | 14 | 2.3 | 91.9 |
| 64-71 | 11 | 1.8 | 93.7 |
| 72-79 | 10 | 1.6 | 95.4 |
| 80-87 | 10 | 1.6 | 97.0 |
| 88-167 | 18 | 3.0 | 100.0 |
| Total | 603 | 100.0 | |
Turning now to consider only those farms with off-farm work, Table 12 presents the average hours worked off-farm per week per adult. This shows that, in most cases, those adults who are working are employed on a full-time basis, or close to it. There is no significant difference in these figures between the different farm types.
| Table 12 : Average Weekly Hours Worked Off-farm Per Adult | |||||
| Off-farm Work | Dairy | Sheep & Beef | Pipfruit | Kiwifruit | Cropping |
| Mean number of hours | 27.5 | 27.3 | 29.4 | 34.4 | 37.0 |
| Median number of hours | 24.0 | 30.0 | 29.0 | 40.0 | 40.0 |
Turning next to seasonal work, Figure 4 shows the percentage of farms of each farm type with at least one adult involved in seasonal off-farm work.
Figure 4
Cropping farms report the highest incidence of seasonal off-farm work, with over one-fifth involved. In contrast, only just over 10% of pipfruit orchards report seasonal off-farm income.
Table 13 provides additional information for farms with off-farm work.
| Table 13 : Percentage Involved in Seasonal Work across Farms with Off-farm work | ||||||||||||
| (%) | Dairy | Sheep & Beef | Pipfruit | Kiwifruit | Cropping | All Farm Types | ||||||
| Adult 1 | 29.8 | 39.0 | 21.4 | 28.3 | 40.6 | 33.1 | ||||||
| Adult 2 | 30.0 | 50.0 | 50.0 | 40.0 | 60.0 | 54.8 | ||||||
| Total | 28.3 | 41.4 | 27.5 | 33.8 | 45.2 | 36.1 | ||||||
Taking sheep and beef farms as an example, on those farms reporting off-farm income, on 30% of farms the first adult is employed in seasonal work, while on those sheep and beef farms where the second adult is also working, 50% are employed in seasonal work. In total, 41% of sheep and beef farms with off-farm employment are involved in seasonal work. Across all farm types, 36% of farms reporting off-farm employment have seasonal employment.
This throws additional light on the results presented in Figure 4. For example, while kiwifruit orchards showed the second highest incidence of seasonal work in Figure 4, in Table 13 we see that only one-third of kiwifruit orchards with off-farm work had seasonal work. Sheep and beef farms show the opposite pattern. While the incidence of involvement in seasonal work is 3% less than kiwifruit orchards, 41% of sheep and beef farms with off-farm work were involved in seasonal work. For this group, seasonal work is clearly an important source of off-farm employment.
| Table 14 : Sex of Adult Off-farm Workers | ||||||||||||||
| Dairy | Sheep & Beef | Pipfruit | Kiwifruit | Cropping | Overall | Total Number | ||||||||
| M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | |||
| % | ||||||||||||||
| Adult 1 | 46.8 | 53.2 | 57.5 | 42.5 | 42.9 | 57.1 | 67.9 | 32.1 | 59.4 | 40.6 | 55.8 | 44.2 | 301 | |
| Adult 2 | 60.0 | 40.0 | 28.1 | 71.9 | 25.0 | 75.0 | 25.0 | 75.0 | 60.0 | 35.74 | 35.7 | 64.3 | 84 | |
| Overall % | 48.3 | 51.7 | 51.3 | 48.7 | 39.2 | 60.8 | 55.3 | 44.7 | 59.5 | 40.5 | 51.0 | 49.0 | ||
Table 14 shows what percentage of off-farm workers are male and what percentage female for each farm type. For most farm types, the sex of the primary adult working off-farm is roughly evenly split between male and female. The exception is kiwifruit orchards, where significantly more of the primary adults working off-farm are male.
Where a second adult is working off-farm, a significant difference exists between the numbers of male and female on sheep and beef, kiwifruit, and pipfruit farms. For these farm types, the second off-farm worker is much more likely to be a female.
When all off-farm workers are considered, there are no significant differences between the percentages of male and female workers.
The money earned by those working off the farm varies considerably, as shown in Table 15. The extent of this range is reflected in the differences recorded between mean and median gross income values. The overall figure refers to the total off-farm employment income per farm. There is no significant difference between the five farm types with respect to employment income earned off-farm.
| Table 15 : Gross Income for those with Off-farm Work | ||||||||||
| Dairy | Sheep & Beef | Pipfruit | Kiwifruit | Cropping | ||||||
| Mean | ||||||||||
| Adult One | 15,668 | 15,769 | 24,190 | 25,072 | 19,662 | |||||
| Adult Two | 10,193 | 14,621 | 14,512 | 13,925 | 9,950 | |||||
| Overall | 15,220 | 15,395 | 22,101 | 21,193 | 17,234 | |||||
| Median | ||||||||||
| Adult One | 10,600 | 12,000 | 23,000 | 21,000 | 16,500 | |||||
| Adult Two | 12,000 | 9,000 | 12,000 | 12,099 | 8,000 | |||||
| Overall | 11,500 | 12,000 | 20,000 | 16,000 | 15,000 | |||||
Information was also gathered in the survey on the type of off-farm employment undertaken, shown in Table 16.
For the 60 people on dairy farms working off-farm, most were either working in farming (30%) or clerical (28%) positions. A high number of adults on pipfruit orchards were also employed in clerical positions. Across all farm types, the most common source of off-farm employment was working on other farms. This was particularly true for cropping farms, involving over half of those employed off-farm.
| Table 16: Type of Off-farm Work (% of adults) | ||||||||||||||
| Type of Work | Dairy | Sheep & Beef | Pipfruit | Kiwifruit | Cropping | Overall Total | ||||||||
| Percent (%) | % | No. | ||||||||||||
| Professional | 13.3 | 16.2 | 17.6 | 15.6 | 9.5 | 15.1 | 58 | |||||||
| Managerial | 8.3 | 14.9 | 11.8 | 13.0 | 9.5 | 12.5 | 48 | |||||||
| Clerical | 28.3 | 13.6 | 29.4 | 14.3 | 9.5 | 17.8 | 68 | |||||||
| Technical | 6.7 | 3.9 | 5.9 | 6.5 | 0 | 4.7 | 18 | |||||||
| Self-employed | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.3 | 0 | 0.3 | 1 | |||||||
| Skilled | 0 | 1.3 | 0 | 2.6 | 0 | 1.0 | 4 | |||||||
| Semi-skilled | 3.3 | 5.8 | 0 | 6.5 | 9.5 | 5.2 | 20 | |||||||
| Unskilled | 10.0 | 6.5 | 5.9 | 2.6 | 9.5 | 6.5 | 25 | |||||||
| Farming | 30.0 | 37.0 | 29.4 | 37.7 | 52.4 | 36.8 | 141 | |||||||
| Total Number | 60 | 153 | 51 | 77 | 42 | 100.0 | 383 | |||||||
There was a significant difference between the sexes in terms of mean off-farm work income for adults with off-farm work. This is shown in Figure 5 and Table 17. For each farm type, males earned significantly more on average than females.
Figure 5
Table 17 : Off-farm Work Income by Sex of Worker
| Dairy | Sheep & Beef | Pipfruit | Kiwifruit | Cropping | ||||||
| $ | No. | $ | No. | $ | No. | $ | No. | $ | No. | |
| Male | 16,535 | 22 | 24,730 | 66 | 39,430 | 17 | 30,499 | 39 | 20,003 | 24 |
| Female | 14,063 | 25 | 18,805 | 69 | 17,778 | 27 | 17,289 | 30 | 13,081 | 16 |
Part of this difference can be explained by the fact that the female workers worked fewer hours per week on average than their male counterparts. This difference is shown in Table 18.
| Table 18 : Variation in Hours Worked Off-farm by Sex | ||||||||||
| Dairy | Sheep & Beef | Pipfruit | Kiwifruit | Cropping | ||||||
| Hours | No. | Hours | No. | Hours | No. | Hours | No. | Hours | No. | |
| Male | 30.3 | 24 | 28.7 | 61 | 40.4 | 18 | 43.2 | 41 | 31.7 | 22 |
| Female | 25.3 | 31 | 26.1 | 70 | 30.7 | 29 | 29.3 | 33 | 26.2 | 16 |
However, even allowing for differences in hours worked, there is still a significant difference between the sexes in the amount of income earned. Except for dairy farms, where there is no significant difference, on all other farm types, females earn significantly less than males.
Question 8: Impact of Off-Farm Work
Survey respondents were asked whether, as a result of off-farm work, they had had to re-arrange their work activities on the farm or in the household, including hiring more labour/contractors or unpaid help. The response for those with off-farm work is presented in Figure 6. More kiwifruit orchards had to adjust their schedules than any other farm type, while dairy farms were least affected by off-farm employment.
Figure 6
Those who indicated that they did have to re-arrange their on-farm work were then asked to indicate the most important changes they had made or noted as a result of off-farm work. The results are presented in Table 19.
| Table 19 : Change Necessitated by Off-farm Work | ||||||||||||||
| Percentages | Dairy | Sheep & Beef | Pipfruit | Kiwifruit | Cropping | Total No. | % | |||||||
| More farm labour | 44.4 | 30.3 | 38.5 | 44.4 | 11.1 | 32 | 35.2 | |||||||
| Work longer | 33.3 | 39.4 | 0 | 22.2 | 44.4 | 36 | 28.6 | |||||||
| Home/family help | 11.1 | 12.1 | 7.7 | 14.8 | 22.2 | 12 | 13.2 | |||||||
| Share housework | 11.1 | 0 | 46.2 | 14.8 | 22.2 | 13 | 14.3 | |||||||
| Extra stress | 0 | 9.1 | 7.7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4.44 | |||||||
| Change stock types | 0 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.1 | |||||||
| Other | 0 | 6.0 | 0 | 3.7 | 0 | 3 | 3.3 | |||||||
| Total count | 9 | 33 | 13 | 27 | 9 | 91 | 100.0 | |||||||
The most common strategies adopted to cope with off-farm work were to work longer hours and employ more farm labour. There were no significant differences between farm types overall.
Contact for Enquiries
Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
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