Rural Non-Farm Employment in Jharkhand: Trends and Determinants
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53983/ijmds.v15n06.024Keywords:
Rural Non-Farm Sector, Workforce, Labour force, EmploymentAbstract
In recent years, rural non-farm sector has gained popularity owing to limited productivity growth in farm sector. High land to labour ratio, sub-division and fragmentation of land holdings, dependence on monsoon for irrigation etc. further pose limitation on agriculture sector. All this has forced the policy makers to find an alternative strategy for rural development. Using secondary data from Employment -Unemployment Surveys (EUS) and Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) in 2005-06 and 2023-24, the present paper aims to study the status of farm and non-farm sector in rural areas of Jharkhand. It also tries to examine the factors determining participation of rural households in non-farm sector. The findings of the study reveal that both LFPR and WPR has increased in the state and this increase has been primarily due to increase in female participation. Further, the share of rural non-farm sector in employment has increased but this increase is not sufficient in gainfully absorbing the labour force. Within non-farm sector, in case of male workers, construction sector is providing maximum job opportunities and female workers are mostly employed in manufacturing sector. Factors positively affecting participation in RNFS are age, marital status, gender, caste and level of educational attainment.
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