road decreases the probability to work as a farmer by 30 percentage points (DHS sample). In locations along a main road, being 10 km closer to the grid decreases the probability to work as a farmer by 30 percentage points (DHS sample). The impact is smaller when using the LSMS sample. Proximity to roads complements proximity to the electric grid. Farming employment decreases more from being closer to roads for locations closer to the grid, and vice versa. The joint effect of both infrastructures is larger in the DHS than in the LSMS sample. Overall, the findings indicate that these infrastructures reinforce each other in decreasing employment in the agricultural sector.

In columns 3, 7 and 8, we analyze how employment in low-skilled occupations responds to road and electricity expansion. In general, we find large negative effects. Columns 3 and 8 show that the probability of employment in a low-skilled occupation decreases by nearly 5 percentage points in both the DHS and LSMS samples in response to being 10 km closer to a main road in areas along the electric grid. Being 10 km closer to an electric gird in areas along a main road leads the probability of employment in a low-skilled employment to decrease to a far greater degree: falling by 21 percentage points in the DHS sample and by 15 percentage points in the LSMS sample. Again, the two types of infrastructure have greater effects in combination. Our analysis shows that being both 10 km closer to a main road and 10 km closer to an electric grid further decreases the probability of being employed in a low-skilled occupation by an additional 0.6 percentage points in the DHS sample and 0.5 percentage points in the LSMS sample.

These estimates have similar signs as the OLS estimates (Table 11) in most cases.

Overall, the findings indicate that improved access to roads and electricity increases the probability to be employed (Table 4) in the Appendix and induce labor reallocation, with workers moving from farming and other low-skilled employment to skilled sectors. Finally the two types of infrastructure have greater in combination.

# **5.3 Agricultural employment in rural areas**

Given the essential role that agriculture plays in rural economies, we now focus on more detailed analysis of the effects of access to roads and electricity on agricultural employment. We analyze the separate and combined effects of greater proximity to these networks on agricultural jobs for populations of rural areas, using both the DHS and LSMS samples.

The regression results are presented in Table 6. They show that access to roads and electricity significantly decreases agricultural employment in rural areas. In the LSMS sample, being 10 km closer to a main road in a location along the grid decreases the likelihood of working in the farming sector by 5 percentage points (Column 1). Similarly, being 10 km closer to an electric grid in a location along a road decreases agricultural employment by nearly 9 percentage points. The marginal impact of being closer to a main road is smaller when closer to the grid, and vice versa. The estimated effects of these infrastructures are much larger in the DHS sample (Columns 2 and 3).

Improved access to electricity and to roads have a similar impact on the structure of occupations at the local level. Electricity and road access might create new job opportunities, mostly in services, providing a more reliable source of income than working in the agricultural sector. Individuals who have specific skills also construct a variable that indicates being employed in the farming sector, but this variable does not indicate whether an individual is self-employed or an employee because this information is not provided (Column 6).

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