Verse 15: he went to work for a man in that country, and the man sent him out to take care of his pigs.

Owners, family, slaves and hired hands. This would be a good time to think about the various social roles in this society. Then, as now, it is best to own things, then you are in control. But a farm then, as it often is now, is a family affair. The fortunes of the family rise and fall with that of the man who usually is the nominal owner. When times are bad, the family suffers together and tries to stretch things. It would be a bad family indeed that threw out a child or two so it would have fewer mouths to feed.

What about slaves? We expect that to be worst position, worse than even being a hired hand. It's not good to be a slave, but we can't assume that slavery in the Ancient Near East is just like that in the American south in the 19th century. Slaves were attached to the family, and not sold very often. In bad times, the slave would assured of a little from the family. The slave would still have a home.

By contrast, the hired hand who worked for wages, would be dismissed in bad times and left with nothing. The younger son does get a job, not a good job, but a job. But that doesn't make him very secure. He has no real relationship with the owner, even less of a relationship than a slave does. If this land owner runs out of money, the job will be gone. So, the younger son is skating on some thin ice.

Digging deeper
· Greek text of the verse
kai. poreuqei.j evkollh,qh e`ni. tw/n politw/n th/j cw,raj evkei,nhj( kai. e;pemyen auvto.n eivj tou.j avgrou.j auvtou/ bo,skein coi,rouj(
The man is described in Greek as being a politon (politw/n), a citizen. He isn't a stranger in that foreign country, not an alien, but a citizen. It's a little point that makes it a little more clear that in raising pigs, the man isn't a non-Jew in a Jewish country. He is a non-Jew in a non-Jewish country.
· Texts about pigs and other animals regarded as unclean can be found in Leviticus 11.1-7 and Deuteronomy 14.7-8