meeting_labour_demand_in_agriculture_in_times_of_cov

Evolution of new entrants (2009-2018)

At the EU aggregate level (Figure 4), there was a sharp decrease in the number of new entrants into the agriculture sector from 2011 to 2012. This decrease is mostly driven by the sharp drop in the new entrants in Romania which went from 2.495 million in 2011 to only 417 thousand in 2012 (see Figure 5 for more details). A similar dynamic is observed for Croatia. Overall, it is possible to notice that, since 2013, the total of people who entered the agricultural sector did not exceed 1.5 million, and reached a new low by 2018 with 1.14 million new workers.

Figure 4. Evolution of newly employed in the agricultural sector, EU aggregate, 2009-2018

Source: own elaboration of EU LFS microdata.

Overall, the dynamics across the Member States vary significantly (Figure 5). In most of the Member States, but to a different extent, the number of native-born new entries decreased over the considered period (AT, DK, EE, FR, HR, IT, LV, NL, PL, RO, SE, SI). It is harder to interpret the trends for the foreign-born workers (both EU and non-EU). Albeit with substantial fluctuations, Spain has witnessed large inflows of migrant labour into agriculture. In Italy and Sweden, steady inflows of migrants into agriculture have been coupled with a marked decrease in natives

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