Education, Socio-economic Status and Female Non-farm Employment Participation in Rural Assam: An Analysis Based on PLFS Data 2022–2023

The development of any nation crucially depends on the efficient utilisation of its human resources. Despite enjoying a favourable demographic dividend, the Indian labour market suffers from the underutilisation of its female workforce, who mostly remain confined to agriculture, whereas the more remunerative non-farm sector is dominated by men. Assam, one of the states of north-east India, has the lowest share of female employment, but also witnessed the highest share of non-farm employment in recent times. Despite the growing importance of the rural non-farm sector in providing remunerative jobs and a stable source of livelihood, the participation of females remains limited compared to that of males. Therefore, it is pertinent to understand the reasons behind the limited participation of females in the non-farm sector in rural Assam. With the use of a multinomial logistic regression model, our findings reveal that although status maintenance is prevalent in rural Assam, it is largely confined to married women. Education plays a transformative role by enabling women to participate in non-farm activities rather than maintaining household status. It further facilitates women from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe households to participate in self-employed and regular non-farm activities. The findings highlight the need for investment in education and skill development programmes to strengthen female participation in the non-farm economy of rural Assam.