A Geographical Analysis of Occupational Structure in Murshidabad District, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The occupational structure of a country refers to the distribution or division of its population according to different occupations. An analysis of the working force provides a useful tool to the social scientists not only for measuring the level of social and economic development an area has attained but also for formulating future plans for mobilizing its manpower. Work participation rate (WPR) is an index of social and economic structure of a society. WPR is 36.46 in the district. It appears that the WPR in the district is quite low. The area taken for this study is Murshidabad district in West Bengal. In this analysis the workers are considered the main and marginal work force and again this is sub divided into cultivators, agricultural laborers, household industrial workers and other workers. Only about one-thirds population to the total population is working force and the rest proportion is non-working force of the district in 2011. The aims and objectives of the study are to analyze the different occupational character, spatial structure of WPR and the change the occupational structure in the district during 2001 and 2011. The study is based on secondary data. Statistical and cartographical techniques are applied to analyze the data. The significance of occupational structure of a region lies in the fact that it explicitly reveals the socio-economic characteristics of the people inhibiting that particular region or country. Hence it is one of the important measures of socio-economic development of the country.