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Labour Market Activities of Rural Households in developing countries

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  • Jatta, Sylvester

Abstract

Using national data from 14 representative developing countries, this paper explores rural wage employment and its potential as a mechanism for improving the living standards of the rural poor. The analysis suggests that the sector of employment (agricultural or non-agricultural) and the overall household livelihood strategy appear to be of limited importance in determining whether a household uses wage employment as a pathway out of poverty. Rather, high-productivity wage employment appears to be linked to the underlying assets of the household and its individual members. In particular, the evidence points to educational and infrastructure investment as critical for providing opportunities in the labour market that lead to higher wages. The analysis also suggests that gender is very important for participation in labour markets as well as wages earned in those markets, indicating that special attention be given to the gender consequences of any labour policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Jatta, Sylvester, 2013. "Labour Market Activities of Rural Households in developing countries," MPRA Paper 46543, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:46543
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/46543/1/MPRA_paper_46542.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin Ravallion & Shaohua Chen & Prem Sangraula, 2007. "New Evidence on the Urbanization of Global Poverty," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(4), pages 667-701, December.
    2. Davis, Benjamin & Covarrubias, Katia & Stamoulis, Kostas G. & Winters, Paul C. & Carletto, Calogero & Quinones, Esteban & Zezza, Alberto & Di Giuseppe, Stefania, 2007. "Rural Income Generating Activities: A Cross Country Comparison," 106th Seminar, October 25-27, 2007, Montpellier, France 7913, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2008. "What Is Middle Class about the Middle Classes around the World?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(2), pages 3-28, Spring.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Key words: rural labour market; mechanism; assets; educational and infrastructure investment; labour markets; gender; pathway out of poverty; livelihood strategies; non-agricultural employment.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General

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