During the last two decades there have been some perceptible trends in the structure of the rural employment. The contribution of the agriculture sector in the employment of rural workforce has declined from 83 per cent in 1977-78 to 76 per cent in 1999-2000. The annual growth rate of workforce in agricultural was 1 per cent during 1977-99, while the same in non-agricultural occupations was 4.3 per cent during 1977-88 and 2 per cent during 1987-2000. In agriculturally developed states, non-agricultural households in rural areas are gradually withdrawing completely from cultivation to concentrate fully on non-agricultural occupations. Employment diversification occurred even in some semi-arid regions wherein toddy tappers and shepherds reverted to their traditional occupations from casual labour in agricultural. Expansion of the rural non-farm sector has been influenced by the growing commercialization in the rural economy. This is the normal pattern of development and in fact, the process has been very slow in India.