The economic transformation following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the accession of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries to the European Union (EU) are milestones that have set the current course for their agricultural sectors. With their accession to the EU, the CEE countries obliged, among other things, to adapt their agricultural activities to the requirements of the common organization of agricultural market and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In 2004, the agricultural sectors of Central and Eastern European countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia), and in 2007, the agricultural sectors of Bulgaria and Romania, were significantly different from those of the EU countries. After almost two decades in EU structures and in the face of climate challenges, it is interesting to discuss the assessment of changes that have taken place in the agricultural sectors of CEE countries and their future. Based on FADN data, the structure of agricultural sectors in Central and Eastern Europe and selected EU countries for 2004–2021 was estimated in terms of types of farming and economic size classes. The agricultural sectors of CEE countries have become similar to those of EU countries in terms of agricultural production structure, and in 2021 will be characterized by a higher level of production specialization than when they accessed the EU. There was also an increase in the economic size of their production, but it was still significantly lower compared to the economic size of farms in EU countries. In light of the goals of the European Green Deal (EGD), this observation may be useful for moving into the next stage of development of the agricultural sector in Central and Eastern Europe. Indeed, achieving the EGD’s goals will require setting adopted development directions, i.e., formulating agricultural practices that facilitate the transition to more sustainable agriculture, such as practices based on the concept of sustainable intensification or ecological intensification.

The main objective of this article is to better understand the category of technical efficiency of agriculture. To achieve this goal, empirical research was carried out, the subject of which was to estimate the average technical efficiency of agriculture in the European Union in the years 2004–2020. The technical efficiency of agriculture was estimated using the Data Envelopment Analysis method–Cooper Rhodes Input Oriented model. In order to estimate the level of technical efficiency, the value of Total output was adopted as the output, and the following inputs were adopted: Total Utilized Agricultural Area, Fertilizers, Plant protection products, Total livestock units, Feed for grazing animals, Labor inputs, Machinery and equipment, and Gross expenditure on fixed assets. The conclusions from the literature review indicate that technical efficiency is the main determinant of economic efficiency. The conclusions from empirical research have shown that agriculture in the European Union is characterized by a high level of technical efficiency for 2004–2020, TE = 90.24%. Moreover, the technical efficiency of farms was checked according to classes of economic size. The obtained results only partially confirm that the increase in the economic size of a farm increases its technical efficiency, because the highest level of technical efficiency is characteristic of farms that belong to the classes very small and very large.

A consequence of similar institutional conditions of domestic labor markets in Europe is the permanent occurrence of the “labor hoarding” phenomenon, which entails non-immediate adaptation of employment to production changes. The article verifies whether the phenomenon of labor hoarding occurs in the European Union countries and what is its level and the direction of changes between 1996 and 2016. The empirical study of employment adjustments to the production volume showed that in the examined period the phenomenon of labor hoarding occurred in all countries of the European Union (excluding Spain). Labor hoarding was accomplished through a slight adjustment of the number of employees to production changes. At the same time, it was noticed that the companies were more flexible with adjusting the number of hours worked. This was particularly evident during global crises and was the consequence of other vital changes in national economies.

This article aims to highlight the importance of climate and environmental challenges for agricultural economics and policy. Empirical research based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method determined the average technical efficiency and...

Discrimination based on gender is commonly observed on labor markets, although its scale and symptoms are different with regard to country and are subject to changes over time. Gender-related diverse flows on the labor market constitute one of its symptoms. The paper’s main objective was to answer the question whether women on the labor market were still secondary workers. The analysis was conducted based on general models of flows on the labour market, examining connections between changes in a number of unemployed and changes in a number of employed men and women. There were applied data for eight OECD countries from various regions of the world. The obtained results were highly diversified depending on the analysis period and country. However, they confirmed that in the past women had been more secondary workers despite no differences in the unemployment rate. Gender impact was noticeable especially in the employment decrease periods. For data after the year 1990, gender-related differences disappeared or significantly decreased in four countries (Australia, Denmark, United Kingdom, United States), but in two of them (Canada, South Korea) – differences increased. First published online 29 October 2020 Keyword : labor market, employment, worker flows, gender, OECD countries, global crises

The seasonality of tourism demand is a natural condition for the functioning of tourist enterprises and affects the choice of employment practice. The aim of the research is to identify the practices of employing workers in tourism industry enterprises and try to understand the determinants of these decisions. The main research questions were what employment practices are used in tourist enterprises and how does the opinion on the condition of the local labor market influence this choice? It was assumed that, in the tourism industry, seasonal fluctuations can be treated the same way cyclical fluctuations are treated in the analysis of dynamic labor demand. The basis for the conclusions was the results of a survey conducted in the tourism industry enterprises in the seaside region of Poland. In the tourist region of the Polish Baltic Sea, 75.6% of tourist enterprises use the practice of total or partial labor hoarding, and 24.4% of enterprises do not use the practice of labor hoarding. They immediately adjust employment to seasonal changes in demand.