Employment and Underemployment of Rural People: Low-Income Groups in Arkansas, Maryland, and West Virginia

Excerpts: This report incorporates the principal findings of five published technical studies conducted by the Farm Economics Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, in cooperation with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station, and the West Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station. The salient results of this research are summarized and compared in this publication primarily to assist workers in the Department of Agriculture's cooperative Rural Development Program. Each study has specific objectives to meet the needs of the local situation. In addition, the studies had the following objectives in common: (1) To classify and describe the farm labor force and other open country households associated with the agriculture of the area; (2) To determine the extent of employment and underemployment among farmworkers in the area; (3) To determine the availability of workers for alternative or supplemental work.