Employment Composition of the Rural Households in Northern Pakistan

Abstract

Present study analyses the composition of employment of different occupational groups in the Northern parts of the rural Pakistan. For achieving this objective data were collected from 323 respondents of four union councils of the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The findings of the study show diversified involvement of the household workers in four union councils in term of profession. Main occupational groups found were i.e; public/private sector employment, farming, working in other parts of the province/country, trade/commerce, followed by daily wages off farm/overseas employment. Daily wage agricultural labourers were just a friction of the labour force among the sample respondents. The average workers in farming and service profession were 1.30 and 1.72 person per household. The domestic and overseas employment per household was 1.47 and 1.15 person. Household’s working members in daily wages in agriculture and non-agriculture were 1.07 and 1.22 respectively. The results of the chi-square were found almost the same for all the union councils. It is concluded that off-farm income sources were more popular among the sample households than farm sources of income. The study recommends that off-farm activities be generated through launching of development projects so that employment opportunities be provided in the rural areas for enhancing of income of the rural households.