abstract: 'Individuals living in farm households who commute to wage employment

  make up an important portion of Japan''s `''nonfarm'''' workers. This study

  examines their growing numbers and the regional and sectoral trends in

  their off-farm jobs, to argue that farms have been more involved in

  recent macroeconomic growth than is commonly acknowledged. In the 20

  years between 1965 and 1985, individuals living on farms filled new

  manufacturing jobs in the regions outside the Tokaido, urban-industrial

  belt. State subsidies for farm families'' agricultural production have

  been generous, but have paid mainly for farm mechanization, which in

  turn has allowed and required farm residents to seek off-farm income.

  Regional policy has directed industrial plants to locate in farming

  regions, both to provide jobs to farmers and to provide workers to

  industries. To the extent that farm subsidies have partly supported

  rural households while enabling members to accept low-wage jobs in

  machinery manufacturing, farm subsidies have provided labor-cost

  advantages to the leading firms and industries in this period of

  restructuring. When farm households are viewed in this larger context of

  their off-farm employment, they have not fallen outside the loop of

  national economic growth in recent years, but have remained integral to

  that growth.'
affiliation: McDonald, MG (Corresponding Author), UNIV HAWAII,DEPT GEOG,HONOLULU,HI
  96822, USA.
author: McDonald, MG
author_list:
- family: McDonald
  given: MG
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.2307/144502
files: []
issn: 0013-0095
journal: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
keywords: 'part-time farming; industrial restructuring; regional job shift;

  off-farm employment; Japan'
keywords-plus: TECHNOPOLIS PROGRAM; RICE POLICY; TECHNOLOGY; AGRICULTURE; INDUSTRY
language: English
month: JAN
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '124'
pages: 49-72
papis_id: bd590586c586f36942c331f8e95b3a58
ref: Mcdonald1996farmersworkers
tags:
- review
times-cited: '14'
title: Farmers as workers in Japan's regional economic restructuring, 1965-1985
type: Review
unique-id: WOS:A1996TX02800004
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '13'
volume: '72'
web-of-science-categories: Economics; Geography
year: '1996'