Local Economic Structure and Off‐farm Labour Earnings of Farm Operators and Spouses

Off‐farm income has become an increasingly important source of farm household income in the past twenty years. While research has examined farm 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 relative employment in sectors which offer more flexible work schedules is strongly associated with higher off‐farm labour earnings.