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LQD: Brexodus has begun | 33 comments (33 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Seasonal workers (none / 1)
Only marginally relevant to the particular discussion of modern British conditions, but still ...

There have been times and places in the past where it was simply not profitable for market-oriented farmers to pay for labor. This led to rather rapid shifts to smaller owner-operated farms, where family labor was highly motivated to work their own farm because they actually profited from their own labor.

Not terribly likely in the modern situation, for all the reasons mentioned elsewhere in the thread. I'd also like to toss out compulsory schooling as another reason for the decline in willingness to do farm labor. People get used to living and working in a certain way, and for kids who are used to being imprisoned indoors for 8 hours a day most of the year, the transition to working outside is just a bridge too far.

by Zwackus on Tue Jul 4th, 2017 at 12:12:57 AM EST
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Re: Seasonal workers (none / 1)
Compulsory schooling has been the rule in France since the end of 19th century while at the same time the majority of the population was living in rural areas (until the 1950s that is). School has not prevented children from helping the parents with farm work and teachers knew quite well that most children would miss school during several days at harvest time; they just adapted without much fuss.
by Bernard (bernard) on Tue Jul 4th, 2017 at 07:30:42 AM EST
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Re: Seasonal workers (none / 1)
Yes but the gradual rise of the average school leaving age has removed an important cohort from the market for low paid, low qualifications labour. Seasonal labour has been less effected because long summer holidays for 2nd. and 3rd. level students has provided a supply for such labour, but seasonal labour that falls out side of of school holidays - e.g. September/October harvests - has been more effected.

Also, it is one thing for students to slum it for a couple of months in the summer doing manual work and living in dingy accommodation - we've (nearly) all done it  - and quite another thing to aspire to such work as a career. In my experience (in the 1970's) such work was nearly always done by foreign (including a lot of Irish) students in the UK and wasn't the done thing for British students who seemed to have grants or other reasons for not having to tolerate a subsistence living.

It would require a huge social transformation in the UK for such work to become acceptable for middle class UK students again, especially if foreign students are also discouraged from attending UK colleges by higher (relative) fees and /or onerous visa requirements. At the moment even subsistence UK wages are attractive if you come from a very low wage economy like Romania, but if the value of Sterling falls much further and the economy in Romania improves, that attractiveness could diminish very rapidly.

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by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Tue Jul 4th, 2017 at 08:20:33 AM EST
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LQD: Brexodus has begun | 33 comments (33 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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