Rural workers are 37% of the national total. Is a widespread idea that engaged only in agriculture. The reality is more nuanced, as shown by the National Household Surveys carried the INEI. Thus, according to The Survey of 2008, a quarter of rural workers not engaged in primary activities, but the manufacturing, trade and various services.
The vast majority of rural workers engaged in agriculture are independent: they are family farmers and peasants, and their number is much higher in the mountains than in the other two regions.
In contrast, agricultural workers are a minority: only one in seven workers is employed in the field, and this relation one of the lowest in Latin America. Surprising that almost half of these employees, 45% - are in the mountains, where there is relatively less developed capitalist agriculture compared to the coast, where he works 32% of employees. This would indicate that a significant portion of small farmers in the highlands employs employees, even if only eventually.
also surprising that a sizable percentage of agricultural workers are resident city: they are a third of agricultural workers.
The participation of women workers is important, but in the world of small farming large numbers unpaid. Only a small percentage of women are wage earners, even if your number has been growing in recent years, particularly with the development of modern agribusiness.
The incidence of poverty among rural workers is very high, 55%, but more so in those that are specifically dedicated to agriculture: 58% among men and 63% among women.
Limited availability land, low yields and poor access to services necessary to help maintain production in poverty to the small independent farming. In the case of rural workers, more than three-quarters do not even receive the minimum living wage, which expresses a high percentage of non-labor laws, even on the coast. Contributes to the precarious situation of instability in agricultural wage work, which was maintained even in companies duly constituted by the flexibility of certain types of contract.
According to the Ministry of Labour, two thirds of agricultural workers in formal enterprises have contracts with 'mode', which do not guarantee their job security.
knowledge of the characteristics of rural workers is essential for labor policies, the rural development and those aimed at reducing rural poverty, to be effective.