Changing Pattern of Rural Non-Farm Employment: A Case Study of Uttar Pradesh at Regional Level

The increasing fragmentation of land holdings due to increasing population has put doubt on agriculture to provide employment to growing rural labour force. This has led to migration of rural people towards urban areas in search of employment which cannot be considered as a solution as it creates several other problems. Rural non-farm employment (RNFL) can be an alternate option as it provides productive employment in the rural areas itself. Its share has been increasing very fast particularly in 2000s and this increase is more pronounced for male workers than female workers throughout the period. The growth of RNFL has been relatively higher in Uttar Pradesh than all India level. At sub-sectoral level secondary sector led by construction has contributed substantially in the increased share of non-farm employment. At regional level, southern and western regions have relatively higher non-farm employment. In case of status of non-farm employment, the share of casual workers has been significantly higher than regular and self-employed workers. And the roles of push factors were more apparent than pull factors for employment diversification particularly for southern region.