Determinants of non-farm employment in rural Bihar

Bihar, one of India's fastest-growing states with double-digit growth, recently saw a decrease in employment share, resulting in attention being diverted to the rural non-farm sector to absorb the increased labour force and facilitate the economy's structural transformation. Hence, the current field survey was conducted to determine the factors influencing non-farm sector participation in rural Bihar using the Binary Logistic Model. The findings suggested that non-farm participation was mainly determined by social group, size of operational landholding, and source of income. Under social group, the shift of farm to non-farm sector in Bihar had mostly been for the upper castes. In terms of operational land holding, households owning some land showed less likely to enter non-farm work than landless households. Lastly, Households with non-farm income as the only source or a mix of both farm and non-farm were more likely to be engaged in the non-farm sector.