Glossary:Farm labour force - family labour
Family labour force of the agricultural holding refers to family workers.
Family workers are persons who help another member of the family to run an agricultural holding or other business, provided they are not considered as employees. Persons working in a family business or on a family farm without pay should be living in the same household as the owner of the business or farm, or in a slightly broader interpretation, in a house located on the same plot of land and with common household interests. Such people frequently receive remuneration in the form of fringe benefits and payments in kind or a salary.
Family labour force applies only to sole holder holdings, because holding-groups and legal persons are considered not to have family labour force. As a consequence for holding-groups, data on family members who work regularly for the farm are attributed to non-family labour regularly employed, regardless of their family relation to the manager.
Includes
- holder's spouse, their relatives in ascending and descending line, and siblings of the holder and holder's spouse on sole holder holdings
- the spouse who assists their partner in a business, e.g. a haulage contractor, with or without receiving formal pay
- a son or daughter living inside the household and working in the parents' business or on the parents' farm, with or without receiving formal pay
- when relevant, includes the manager who is a member of the holder's family - they do not need to live on the holding
- other relatives (e.g. cousins being engaged in the farm work) could also be included if they are living and working at the agricultural holding together with the family of the manager - either living in the same household or, in a slightly broader interpretation, in a house located on the same plot of land and with common household interests
Excludes
- family members working on a farm managed as a holding-group
Tree
Differences between data collections
Note that in the Labour force survey (LFS) a family member who receives a salary is no longer classified as a family member but as an employee instead.
Further information
- Structure of agricultural holdings (ESMS metadata file — ef_esms)