ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes detailed field survey data to address the research puzzles and policy dilemmas of the Egyptian rural labor market. It examines the link between education and the probability that an individual will participate in the secondary labor market. The chapter describes the local farm structure, focusing on the farming activities of the very smallest farmers. It outlines wage and employment patterns by sex, age, occupational strata, month, and crop operation in order to determine when women compete with adult male workers. The chapter aims to estimate the labor supply elasticities of hired male farm workers. The distribution of access to land obviously constitutes an important element of the labor market, on both the demand and supply sides. Land ownership influences the need for hired workers and provides alternatives to participation in the hired agricultural labor market for small farmers.
