INVESTIGATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF LABOR COSTS IN SLAUGHTER PIG PRODUCTION

Tóth, Sándor – Nábrádi, András

Keywords: different technical standards, competitiveness, labor costs, pig farming JEL: Q12, J10

DOI: https://doi.org/10.53079/GAZDALKODAS.68.3.t.pp_244-255
The present study aims to analyze the evolution of labor costs in a large pig production company, which is now operating efficiently, considering the different technological levels of the plants, which are reflected in a well-measured form for a given reference year. In Hungarian slaughterhouse production, new greenfield investments are of particular importance also because technological underdevelopment is a significant competitive disadvantage compared to European countries. The cost-reducing effect of pig farms equipped with modern housing and feeding technology reduces the share of labor costs in total costs.
Our study, based on primary data collection from two separate, multi-farm study units of a single enterprise, analyzed, among other things, the impact of technological improvements on labor costs averaged over three years for a large-scale pig producer between 2020 and 2022. A significant correlation with labor costs was found, with farms using new and modern state-of-the-art technology having, on average, four percentage points more favorable labor costs. The impact on the cost structure of 4 percentage points, which will be discussed later, is the highest after-feed cost, so a deeper analysis of this is not an option but a necessity. Given the case study nature of the analysis, the general applicability of the conclusions drawn is limited. It can be concluded, however, that establishing new and modern pig farms is necessary to improve international competitiveness, given that the availability of agricultural labor is decreasing year by year. Teljes cikk