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Employment Patterns and Income Formation in Rural Bangladesh: The Role of Rural Non-farm Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Mahmud , Wahiduddin

    (Professor of Economics, Dhaka University, Bangladesh)

Abstract

The rural non-farm (RNF) sector in Bangladesh provides employment to a large and growing proportion of the country's labour force. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that the process of labour shift from agriculture to the RNF sector represents a precarious balance of the "push-versus-pull" factors that might have kept rural poverty situation from deteriorating, without making much improvement in the situation either. The expansion of low-productivity self-employment has been the major contributing factor in the sectoral transformation of the rural labour force. While the provision of such non-farm employment has been crucial for absorbing the growing numbers of landless rural workers, the labour shift may have created some degree of overcrowding in the low-productivity non-farm activities, thus undermining the growth of overall productivity and income levels in the RNF sector. In future, if the RNF sector is to play a more dynamic role, there will have to be probably some shift of emphasis towards relatively larger-scale and higher-productivity RNF activities which are better able to respond to income-elastic market demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Mahmud , Wahiduddin, 1996. "Employment Patterns and Income Formation in Rural Bangladesh: The Role of Rural Non-farm Sector," Bangladesh Development Studies, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), vol. 24(3-4), pages 1-27, Sept-Dec.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:badest:0360
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. M. Niaz Asadullah, 2012. "Intergenerational Wealth Mobility in Rural Bangladesh," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(9), pages 1193-1208, September.
    2. Sen, Binayak & Dorosh, Paul & Ahmed, Mansur, 2021. "Moving out of agriculture in Bangladesh: The role of farm, non-farm and mixed households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    3. Saha , Bimal Kumar & Shahabuddin, Quazi, 2013. "Poverty Dynamics: A Perception Study of Tenants and Agricultural Labourers in Bangladesh," Bangladesh Development Studies, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), vol. 36(2), pages 77-108, June.
    4. Khandker, Shahidur R. & Samad, Hussain A. & Ali, Rubaba, 2013. "Does access to finance matter in microenterprise growth ? evidence from Bangladesh," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6333, The World Bank.
    5. G. M. Arif & Hina Nazli & Rashida Haq, 2000. "Rural Non-agriculture Employment and Poverty in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 39(4), pages 1089-1110.
    6. Muhammed Muqtada, 2018. "ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO FULL EMPLOYMENT IN BANGLADESH Role of the Non-farm Sector," CPD Working Paper 116, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
    7. S. M. Woahid, Murad, 2009. "The trends of labor market in Bangladesh and its determinants," MPRA Paper 32381, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Ahmed, Mansur & Goodwin, Barry, "undated". "Agricultural Mechanization and Non-Farm Labor Supply of Farm Households: Evidence from Bangladesh," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 236131, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Kabeer, Naila, 2009. "Snakes, Ladders and Traps: Changing Lives and Livelihoods in Rural Bangladesh 1994-2001," Bangladesh Development Studies, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), vol. 32(2), pages 1-52, June.
    10. Mustafa K. Mujeri, 2000. "Poverty Trends and Growth Performance: Some Issues in Bangladesh," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 39(4), pages 1171-1191.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Employment; Population estimates; Agriculture; Censuses; Rural areas; Income distribution; Agricultural population; Agricultural labor;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines

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