Exploring the Dominance of Pull and Push Forces and Role of Geography towards Non-Farm Employment in Rural Tamil Nadu, India
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Abstract
The present study attempts to study the trend, distribution and determinants of nonfarm employment in
rural Tamil Nadu using household level information provided in NSS-Employment Survey for the year
2011-12. It employs Getis-Ord’s index of spatial correlation to study the employment distribution across
sub-units of the state, and logistic regression to study the extent of influence of different pull and push
forces that attract/detract individuals engaging into nonfarm occupations. Results obtained show that the
state stands second among southern states employing around two-fifth of rural labor in nonfarm occupations,
but labor absorption has slowed down since mid-1990s. Cross-sectional estimates show that nonfarm
labor shares are high in just one-sixth of all districts, and employment levels are low in 40 percent of the
districts. low labor-share districts are at eastern region. To the other end, medium labor-share districts are
primarily located at western and northern region of the state. While southern districts show us a mixed
pattern, districts with more than 60 percent nonfarm labor-share are scattered across the state. Maps of
Getis-Ord’s statistic show ‘cold spot’ cluster, providing evidence favoring spatial clustering in low
employment regions. Among determinants, higher education and training stands matter the most in accessing
to nonfarm occupations. Odds-ratio of logistic regression show that persons with a literacy level of graduation
and above are 18 times more likely to access nonfarm jobs, whereas persons having vocational training are
around 4 times more likely to obtain nonfarm jobs. Interestingly, agricultural productivity, and farm-nonfarm
wage ratio had no significant influence on accessing nonfarm jobs.
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