For the first time since the end of the last Ice Age when agriculture began, it has been replaced as the main sector of employment in the world. According to the latest data released by ILO, agriculture employed 36.1 per cent of the world’s workforce as of 2006 while the services sector employed 42 per cent.

Just a decade ago, in 1996, agriculture had employed 41.9 per cent, while services and industry had employed 37 per cent and 21.1 per cent respectively.

But agriculture continues to be the chief employer in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, South-East Asia and Pacific, and East Asia. This too, though, is on a declining trend, with decreases of 8.5 percentage points in Sub-Saharan Africa, 10.3 in South Asia, 5.6 in South-East Asia and 7.6 in East Asia.

Overall, services are attracting much of the migration from agriculture except in South Asia, where industry is attracting more workers than services.