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Agrarian distress and rural non-farm sector employment in India

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  • Abraham, Vinoj

Abstract

The rural labour market in India is still virtually, to a large extent, dominated by the agriculture related workers, both cultivators and hired workers consisting of more than 70 percent of the rural workforce even in the current decade. However, there have been signs of a shift from farm to non-farm occupations and industries during the recent times, at a magnitude relatively higher than the experience of the last three decades. This has brought in a lot of optimism among economy watchers that there is at last a visible structural shift in employment. Yet, it needs to be recognized that this shift has occurred in a period when the economy was reeling under the effects of a severe agrarian crisis. The trends and patterns in the structural shift support the argument that this has occurred mainly as a distress-driven response to the crisis. Logit and Multinomial logit analysis shows that in distress-driven regions the shift has occurred due to the push factors associated with the distress, while in the normal regions the shift has been relatively more responsive to growth driven factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Abraham, Vinoj, 2011. "Agrarian distress and rural non-farm sector employment in India," MPRA Paper 35275, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:35275
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/35275/2/MPRA_paper_35275.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Escobal, Javier, 2001. "The Determinants of Nonfarm Income Diversification in Rural Peru," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 497-508, March.
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    3. Lewis, John P., 1976. "The new economics of growth: A strategy for India and the developing world : John W. Mellor a twentieth century fund study (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1976) pp. xv+335," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 390-393, December.
    4. Vinoj Abraham, 2008. "Employment growth in rural India: Distress driven?," Centre for Development Studies, Trivendrum Working Papers 404, Centre for Development Studies, Trivendrum, India.
    5. Lewis, W Arthur, 1979. "The Dual Economy Revisited," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, University of Manchester, vol. 47(3), pages 211-229, September.
    6. Hazell, Peter B. & Haggblade, Steven, 1990. "Rural - urban growth linkages in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 430, The World Bank.
    7. Hazell, Peter B. R. & Haggblade, Steven, 1991. "Rural-Urban Growth Linkages in India," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 46(4), October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sinduja Srinivasan, 2014. "Impact of Public Works on Household Occupational Choice Evidence from NREGS in India," Working Papers WR-1053, RAND Corporation.
    2. SABREEN, Maryam & BEHERA, Deepak Kumar, 2021. "Rural Household’S Participation In Non-Farm Economic Activities In India Using Binary Logistic Regression Model," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 21(1), pages 5-16.
    3. Padhi, Balakrushna & Sharma, Himja, 2023. "Changing Contours of Growth and Employment in the Indian Labour Market: A Sectoral Decomposition Approach," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 220-233.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agrarian distress; Non-farm employment; Rural; India; Push factors;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J43 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Agricultural Labor Markets
    • C35 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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