Regional disparities in off-farm employment and their impact on agricultural production and sales - evidence from Romania

During the transition towards a market economy in Romania most enterprises established at the time of industrialization and urbanization project of the communist period reduced or stopped their activity and many employees lost their jobs. A reverse migration from urban to rural areas took place, thus contributing to the increase in employment and underemployment in agriculture - the main occupation in the rural areas. The emerging farmers without necessary production factors, know-how and confronted with inadequate input and output markets decreased their agricultural sales and purchase of agricultural goods, while increasing self-consumption in the household. Given the interaction between unemployment, the increase of employment in agriculture and consequently in self-consumption in the households, the paper analyzes how the differences in the off-farm employment opportunities in the different regions impact agricultural commercialization.