Punjab state has been one of the pioneer states of India for outmigration. The workforce of rural Punjab is looking for alternate employment opportunities both within and across the national boundaries. The overall objective of this paper is to collect and analyse the socio-economic variables that helps the rural workforce to decide for international migration other than subsistence agricultural and other employment avenues in the Punjab state. The regular earnings in terms of the remittances are responsible for the international migration from rural Punjab, as supported by the empirical evidences. The De facto heads of the households reveal that the outflow of workforce, i.e, international migration and the inflow of remittances have helped to break the vicious circle of poverty of these concerned households to a remarkable extent. Somehow, there is need to consider and focus on the mechanism of the outflow of workforce and inflow of remittances to eradicate poverty and mobilise the resources for the development of rural Punjab at both micro and macro level. 

KEY WORDS: Rural Punjab, Land ownership, Socio- economic variables, Households