Inter-generational Mobility in Occupations of People in Rural Nepal

Abstract

This paper attempts to investigate the causal factors for occupational variation between father and son using Nepalese data from rural context. A well-structured questionnaire schedule was used to collect information from a total of 385 father son pairs in Gajuri rural municipality of Province No 3 in Dhadingdistrict of Nepal. Information was collected from those father and/or son, the senior son of a father who was married at the time of interview and whose father was alive. Three sets of variables were isolated as having an effect on the occupational relationships between father and son; father's characteristics, son’s characteristics and household characteristics. Findings revealed that three fifths of all sons adopted occupations different than their fathers. Chi-square statistics revealed a statistically significant relationship between occupation of father and occupation of son revealing a high level of occupational persistence in between generations. Binary logistic regression revealed that sons of the fathers holding salaried job/business and trades as well as those having wage labour are more likely to catch father’s occupation than the sons of farmers. Among all explanatory measures, sons' own level of education and migration experiences are powerful determinant for whether son adopts occupations different than their fathers or not.