U.S. Farm and Farm-Related Employment in 1988. How Large, Important, and Regionally Different? Agriculture Information Bulletin Number 634.

Farm and farm-related industries account for almost 18 percent of total U.S. employment in 1988. This share is based on a broad definition of the agricultural sector, including not only farm production but also industries that mine, manufacture, and sell farm inputs; process commodities; and sell consumer goods. Many jobs in industries that support processing and distribution of farm goods are located far from the farm. Almost 71 percent of all farm and farm-related jobs are in metropolitan counties. Many of these jobs are in agricultural wholesale and retail trade industries that serve consumer markets in these counties. Only 722,000 farm and farm-related jobs are in the Northern Plains, the fewest of all regions, but the jobs in that thinly populated region account for 23.8 percent of its total employment. The 4.7 million farm and farm-related jobs in the Northeast, a populous part of the country, exceed those in other regions, but account for only 15.4 percent of the Northeast's total employment. In all regions, agriculture is relatively more important to non-metropolitan counties, where the proportion of total employment in farm and farm-related industries is 6.2 to 15.3 percent greater than in metropolitan counties. (Four figures and three tables are provided. An appended table provides a classification of farm and farm-related industries.) (YLB)