Situacion de la demanda de mano de obra en la produccion de manzanas en Chile.

The general objective of this study is to establish the labor requirements and its seasonality for apple production, species which occupies the second place in fruit planted area, and determine the main factors which affect labor productivity. This research was done through studies and the information was obtained from a questionnaire made to growers and workers at different farms located between VI and VII Region. Questions were related to administration, labor characteristics, and technical subjects of the orchards. The apple production has a marked seasonality which is concentrated between March-April, and November, periods when harvest and thinning take place. The only factors which may affect the labor seasonality in the farms is to implement activities that can use workers on the low demand periods. On the other hand, the agricultural and climate location may help to advance or delay the work on the fields. A high production level, high plant density, payment per piece and bigger farm size may help to obtain an increased response of the workers, and as long as it means lower costs it will result as well in a better labor productivity. Worker's selection and training help to improve the performance and labor productivity, Regarding worker's characteristics, the seasonal workers are younger and have a better education level than permanent workers. Furthermore, they come from distant areas away from the farm location. Women work basically in thinning and packing jobs. Most of the farms have no records of the labor use, nevertheless the ones which are managed like an enterprise, specially the bigger farms, are actually adding information systems for cost control and personnel administration which help them to plan, evaluate and know exactly what are their requirements and the productivity of their resources. In that way they can improve the efficiency of the system in general. The development of the fruit sector and the growth in demand of labor has resulted in increased employment in number, as well as the incorporation of groups previously non economically active. The national economy has been benefitting by the increase in exports and other activities linked to this sector, allowing for an improvement of social indicators on national level, and specifically in the rural sector. The unemployment has decreased from 9.4% to 2.1% during 1982-1991 and also the migration to the city has been reduced, allowing a larger income to the rural families.