Page 64 - Changing Living Spaces

Žarko Lazarević

hectares of land. The main source of income of 20 percent of all regis-
tered farms was not agriculture. The information that almost 12 percent
of Slovenian farms officially measured only up to half a hectare of land
convinced these observers that the data on the number of farms were ex-
aggerated. They were convinced that for this 12 percent, most of the in-
come was generated through wage labour on other farms or off-farm, as
well as through various production activities. Based on the economic cal-
culations and the structure of farms, they estimated that only 65,000
farms, or 42 percent of all farms included in the statistics, actually made
a living from farming, representing 55 percent of the total rural popula-
tion (Bohinjec 1938, 236–7).

Hidden Unemployment

The agrarian overpopulation raised other questions as well. It was more
than obvious that the problem was hidden unemployment or underem-
ployment in the countryside. I use the term ‘hidden unemployment’ to re-
fer to the lack of employment on farms, but this was not officially meas-
ured or recorded. According to the study conducted in the second half
of the 1930s, there was a gap between the available labour force and the
amount of labour available on farms. The number of labourers exceed-
ed the amount of available labour in agriculture. The study was based on
evaluations and averages, and days off were also considered. Nevertheless,
the results were very indicative of the extent of social hardship in rural
areas – especially on small farms that could barely provide full employ-
ment for farm household members.
The data presented include only the work directly related to agricul-
tural activities. Hrvoj Maister, the author of the study, added to the pre-
sented figures several agricultural activities related to domestic work and
livestock breeding. The data on the active farming population showed
that the potential number of working days was 83,444,000. The differ-
ence testifies to the ‘unemployment’ or underemployment of the peas-
ant population, which varies seasonally. In the summer – i.e. the peri-
od of greatest workload – it was about 8 percent. In winter, however, it
was much more pressing, reaching 37 percent. These abstract figures must
be translated into everyday life. According to this criterion, 63,000 peo-
ple in summer and 155,000 people in winter did not have full employ-
ment (Maister 1938, 105). The study was conducted at the level of Slovenia
as a whole and refrained from highlighting regional specifics, although
the author did point out regional differences. In general, the pattern that

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