Rural Labour Market in Assam: Trends and Status of Employment

Based on National Sample Survey data for 1993-94,1999-00,2004-05 and 2009-10, this paper explores the situation of the rural labour market in Assam. While the Work Participation Rates (WPR) for males Increased during the reference period, the same for females had been fluctuating around a lower level of 15 to 20 percent. Consequently, unemployment rates for females had been higher than males. A sector wise distribution of workers shows that the proportion of males employed in the farm sector had been declining in favour of the Non-Farm Sector (NFS), while the females were heavily tagged with the farm sector, leading to a lower degree of diversification into NFS. The employment growth rates for females suffered a serious setback during the period. The problem of casualisation is more acute for rural females than their male counterparts. Females stand in the most disadvantageous situation in the rural labour market as indicated by their low WPR, higher unemployment rates, lower employment growth, low level of diversification into NFS and higher casualisation Index.