Economic and Marketing Information
FOR INDIANA  FARMERS
Prepared by the Agricultural Staff of Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana
July 30,  1971
An Economic Study of Full Time Labor on Indiana Farms
by David W. Howell and Paul R. Robbins. Agricultural Economics
LABOR IS AN IMPORTANT
agricultural resource. The way
labor is utilized has a great influence upon farm profits. As farm
units grow larger, farm operators
are finding the acquisition and
supervision of hired labor to be
one of their major problems.
Many Indiana farm operators
have indicated that they felt labor
problems were the major factor
limiting growth.
Aggressive farm operators are
searching for ways to increase
their farm income. Economists
and farmers usually agree that
the first step in improving profits
is to utilize the existing resources
in the most economical manner.
However, there is a limit to the
amount of profit one can squeeze
out of an existing set of resources.
If the operator is to continue to
increase income he must acquire
additional resources, including
good labor.
Mechanization has reduced the
requirements for some of the
more manual types of hired labor.
However, farm operators find
that, with increased size of their
farm business, much more of their
personal time is taken up by
the management and administrative work of running the business. They have less time to
spend personally supervising their
employees. Thus, they have developed a need for a more sophisticated farm laborer with more
technical and management skills.
During the past 40 years, rapid
expansion of the general economy has created the demand for
more laborers. As the demand
has continually shifted upward,
there has been a steady increase
in non-farm wages. This competition between farm and non-farm
sectors for quality labor has been
keen and the farmers have been
losing the battle.
In the summer of 1970, a research study was undertaken at
Purdue University to explore,
from the farmer's point of view,
the question of how to get and
keep the kind of full time labor
needed for a modern farm business.  Questionnaires mailed from
Table 1.   Classification of skill level by enterprise and job performed
Skill level
Enterprise
III
Crops
Swine
Dairy
Feeder cattle
Poultry
Crops
Swine
Dairy
Feeder cattle
Poultry
Crops
Swine
Dairy
Poultry
Crops
Swine
Dairy
Feeder cattle
Job performed
Haul grain from fields
Scrape and clean pens
Clean   barns  and   milk   house  and  assist   operator
with milking
No skill level  I jobs
Gather, clean and candle eggs
Plow and disc ground with operator's largest tractor
Feeder cattle
Deliver feed to feeders with an auger wagon
Milk cows upon occasion
Operate tractor and loader or mechanical feeding
equipment, etc.
Use mechanical equipment in cleaning house,
feeding, etc.
Operate at least a 4-row combine without employer's close supervision
Be solely responsible for the farrowing house for
a week during farrowing
Milk cows for 10 days in a row, unsupervised
Look after cattle feeding operation for a week
unsupervised
Look after poultry for a week unsupervised
Operate at least an 8-rOw corn planter applying
fertilizer, herbicide and insecticide without employer's close supervision
Be in almost complete charge of hog enterprise
(i.e. herdsman)
Be in almost complete charge of dairy enterprise
Be  in almost complete charge of  feeding enterprise except for buying and selling cattle
Poultry
Be  in almost complete charge of  poultry enterprise
Note-   To  calculate  annual   wages,  hourly  wages,   hours  worked   per  year,  etc.  by  skill   level,   the
employee  was  classified   according   to  skill   level   by  the  highest  skill   •cvel  he  possessed
in any of the enterprises for which he had responsibility.