Pineapple production is the main farming activity in the district. Other agricultural products such as vegetables and fruits are produced on large scale in the district. Fishing is another economic activity carried out by the people especially along the coastal areas. Salt mining is done on large scale at Suprodo and Narkwa. Other communities such as Srafa Aboana, Srafa Kokodo, Srafa Mpoano and Ekumpoano are also engaged in small scale salt mining. Although there are several lagoons in the district the potential of the salt industry is yet to be fully tapped. 

Trading, which is an important economic activity is carried out virtually in every area in the district with Essuehyia as a major focal point and involves agricultural products and other merchandise. There are large deposits of quality clay for the construction industry found in the district.  There are clay factories located at Akwakrom and Otabanadze producing clay products for the housing and ceramic industry.

Economic Activity Status

The economically active persons include all persons (i) who worked for pay or profit or family gain during the seven days preceding the census or (ii) who did not work but had jobs to return to, such as those on leave with or without pay, temporarily ill persons, temporarily laid off persons or (iii) who did not work during the reference period, but were actively looking for work (i.e., the unemployed). On the other hand, economically not active people are homemakers (persons who engaged in household duties without pay), students, the aged, pensioners and persons with disability.

Table 4.1 shows the economic activity status of the population 15 years and older in the District. The total number of persons 15 years and older is 30,158, representing 57.7 percent of the entire population of the District. Out of this number, 68.2 percent is economically active while 31.8 percent is economically not active. The region has less economically active (49.6%) but more economically not active (54.3%) population compared to the District. About 96.3 percent of the economically active are employed while only 3.7 percent are unemployed. The largest proportion of economically not active are those in full time education (44.5%) while pensioner/retired (1.8%) are the least of the economically not active.

A slightly higher proportion of males (32.9%) than females (31.0%) are economically not active. Again, a higher proportion of males (57.8%) are economically not active due to full time education compared to females (33.9%). This implies that there is potentially a much larger male than female labour force for the future development of the District.

Table 4.2 provides information on the economic activity status of the population15 years and older across the various age groups in the District. From the table, the population aged 15-19 years constituted 6.0 percent of the employed population while those in the age group 55-59 years were the least (5.3%). The age group 20-24 years recorded the highest proportion of the unemployed (34.6%). Within this same age group (20-24), a higher proportion of females (36.3%) than males (33.2%) were unemployed. The highest proportion (44.2%) of economically not active persons was recorded among those aged 15-19 years. A higher proportion of the males (53.7%) were economically not active than the females (36.7%) within the age group 15-19 years plausibly due to differences in current school attendance between the males and females.

Occupation

Occupation refers to the type of work a person is engaged in or a person’s principal or usual work or business especially as a means of earning a living. In the 2010 PHC, the question on occupation was asked only of persons who worked for at least one hour during the seven days before the census night, and those who did not work but had a job to return to, as well as those who were unemployed but had worked before. All persons who worked during the seven days before the census night were classified by the kind of work they were engaged in. The emphasis was on the work the person did during the reference period.

Table 4.3 shows the occupation and sex of the employed population 15 years and older in the Ekumfi District. The results indicate that females (26.1%) engaged in Service and Sales were almost five times that of the males (5.6%). This is expected because traditionally such occupations are associated with females. On the other hand, a higher proportion of males (63.2%) were involved in skilled agricultural, forestry and fisheries workers than females (44.4%).A higher proportion of females (20.1%) than males (11.9%) were, however, engaged in craft and related trades. This shows some level of gender stereotyping in occupation in the District.

Employment Status

Employment status refers to the status of a person in the establishment where he/she currently works or previously worked. In the 2010 PHC, eight employment status categories are provided: employee, self-employed without employees, self-employed with employees, casual worker, contributing family worker, apprentice, domestic employee (house help). Persons who could not be classified under any of the above categories are classified as “other”. The total population of persons 15 years and older employed in the Ekumfi District is 19,811 (Table 4.5). Amongst those who are employed, 8,288 are males while 11,523 are females. A higher proportion of males (18.5%) than females (5.5%) are employees. About 75.0 percent of the population of persons 15 years and older are self-employed without employee(s) while 6.8 percent are contributing family workers.

The proportion of self-employed without employee(s) in the Region (65.2%) is lower than that of the District. A higher proportion of females (81.6%) than males (64.8%) are classified as self-employed without employee(s). On the other hand, a higher proportion of males (6.1%) than females (3.6%) are engaged in self-employment with employee (s). A slightly higher proportion of females (7.2%) than males (6.2%) are contributing family workers. This is expected because females are mostly associated with family or domestic work (Tanle and Awusabo-Asare, 2007).

Figure 4.2 is a graphical presentation of the economic activity status of the population 15 years and older by sex in the District. It shows that the most visible variation between the males and females is among the self-employed without employees where the proportion is far higher for the females than the males and among the employee group where the reverse is the case.

Employment Sector

This refers to the sector in which a person worked. The employment sectors covered in the 2010 PHC were public, private formal, private informal, semi-public/parastatal, NGOs and international organizations. Table 4.6 shows the employment sector of the population 15 years and older in the District. The private informal sector is the major employer (93.4%) in the District and the proportion was higher than that of the region (88.2%).

A higher proportion of females (96.2%) than males (89.5%) were engaged in the private informal sector, but the reverse is the case with respect to the public (government) sector employees where the proportion is higher among males (6.2%) than females (2.2%). It can be concluded that the low proportion of females in both the public and private formal sectors could be due to their low level of formal education since formal educational qualification is one of the requirements for employment in the formal sector.

Financial Institutions

Banking / Financial Institution               Number

        Commercial Banks                              None
        Development Banks                            None
        Merchant Banks                                  None
        Rural Bank                                           1
        Non-Bank Financial Institution              None
        Insurance Companies                         None
        Reinsurance Company                        None

Investment Potentials

NGOS In The District       

Hunger Project
Plan Ghana
Marie Stopes
Global Brigade
Camfed
Hope For Future Generation
Pro-Link
Cluster Farming
Global Habitate
Everimage Career Consult
•    Common Fund            -         Ghc 854, 995.84
•    Budget                -        Ghc 783,287.00
•    Expenditure                -         Ghc 854, 995.84