This paper provides recommendation to decision makers for the regional policy
of differentiated agricultural workforce by analyzing the level of local workforce redundancy.
A data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is used to study efficiency of arable land
usage, the situation of labor redundancy, and the influence of labor redundancy on the
arable land usage efficiency in Hubei Province between 1987 and 2012. Spatial-temporal
distribution of the above factors are investigated. The results indicate that, from 1987
to 2007, the laborforce has little impact on the arable land usage. Labor redundancy of
different degrees existed in 80% of counties, among which the west and southeast regions
were the highest. The situation was improved in the Jianghan Plain and northeast Hubei
with sustainable transfer of the agricultural workforce from 2007 to 2012. It is therefore
concluded that targeted policy should be taken either to accelerate laborforce transfer or
to secure the agricultural workforce according to the local degree of redundancy.