ABSTRACT
Data and studies have revealed that the prevalence of agriculture as a source of livelihood starts declining with economic development and the rural occupational structure undergoes diversification towards different non-agricultural activities. This has the potential of reducing disguised unemployment in agriculture, as well as forced out-migration, rural poverty and rural income inequality. But the extent to which such outcomes happen depends on whether the shift away from agriculture is driven by growth-related ‘pull’ factors or distress-driven ‘push’ factors. This chapter attempts to analyse the data from the quinquennial large surveys on ‘Employment and Unemployment Situation in India’ by the National Sample Survey Office in order to ascertain the underlying determinants of rural non-farm employment in India during the post-reform years 1990–2010. The results point towards the existence of both push and pull factors behind rural occupational transformation, but one finds that while the male workforce seems to be affected more by positive economic forces, the female workforce is led more by distress forces. Moreover, the analysis shows that there exists much industry-specific and region-specific heterogeneity in the dynamics involved.
