Long-lasting effects of sedentarization-induced increase of fertility on labor force proportion in an Arab socieity: a case study in south Jordan.
Based on the authors' genealogical-demographic data of a Bedouin-origin clan in south Jordan which settled down in 1948, this paper aimed to report the long-lasting effects of increase in fertility induced by sedentarization on the labor force proportion, defined as percent of persons aged 15-64 years. The results highlighted that this proportion had an inverse relation with the total fertility rate and tended to fluctuate up to the present time with an interval of several decades, suggesting that a Bedouin-origin sedentarized group met alternately with the phase of high fertility and low proportion of labor force and the other phase of an opposite pattern. At present, unemployment of males, who have been engaged in subsistence and cash-earning work, was high especially in younger groups basically due to the narrow land of the clan (only 35 hectares for 456 people in 2005) for agriculture and the limited opportunities for cash-earning jobs. Taking into consideration that Bedouin-origin people sedentarized according to the government policy, it is needed for the government to support rural development plans of sedentarized Bedouin peoples.
Graduate School of International Development and Cooperation, Kibi International University, 8 Iga-machi, Takahashi, Okayama 716-8508, Japan. sueyoshi@kiui.ac.jp
Shuji
S
Sueyoshi
Ryutaro
R
Ohtsuka
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018912:Arabs; D001723:Birth Rate / Q000639:trends*; D003625:Data Collection; D004651:Employment / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007597:Jordan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014478:Unemployment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data