This paper seeks to analyse a remarkable change that has occurred in the structure of labour force in Rural Bangladesh and to relate this change to the recent trends in poverty. The size of non-farm labour-force has increased dramatically in the Post-independence period. Such a shift is normally associated with growing prosperity, and there are also some independent estimates which indicate that poverty may be on the decline. This paper contests the validity of these estimates of poverty, and also argues that the shift towards non-farm activities is more a sign of pathology than health in the present context of Bangladesh. The structural change merely reflects a relocation of surplus labour from the farm to the non-farm sector.