Occupational Choice And Income Distribution Of Households In Rural Andhra Pradesh

The direct effect of globalisation is seen in changes in occupational distribution of households and also in distribution of income among different occupational groups in rural India. Household principal occupation is an important indicator of quality of life and socio-economic status of household. If a household gets major share of income from regular non-agricultural sector, that household was generally better off in overall well being compared to households who gets major share of income from agricultural labourer. Multinomial regression model is used to identify factors influencing the choice of household principal occupation based on unit survey data for its 55th round of NSSO for the year 1999-00. The study finds that the differences in human capital of households influence household incomes in two different ways one is through shift in principal household occupation and the other was difference in incomes within the occupation. The study also found that in both self-employed in agriculture and self-employed in non-agriculture there was a positive influence of human capital on incomes of the households, but primarily the effect of higher education was on choice of occupation. The paper concludes that even in the post liberalisation (globalization scenario) period also the effect of human capital on incomes of households working in agricultural sector is not significant. However, higher human capital levels of members and head of household increase chances of livelihoods in non-agricultural occupation and non-agricultural occupations earn more income than agricultural occupations especially for higher educated households.