Data on the economic characteristics of any population is significant for sustainable development. Again, the economic characteristics serve as development indicators to assess the growth of a settlement’s economy. It is against this background that the economic characteristics of the population are examined in this chapter. The areas of focus include economic activity status, employment status, industry and occupation of the total population in the district.

Economic Activity Status

Table 4.1 shows that of the total population of 51,580 aged 15 years and older, 79 percent are economically active while the economically inactive population constitutes 21 percent. Of the economically active population, 99 percent are employed while the unemployed make up one percent. Of those who are unemployed, the majority (51%) have ever worked before. The proportion of females who are economically active (54%) is slightly higher than males (46%). However, females are more likely to be unemployed (54%) than males (46%).

The data also show that students form a large proportion (37%) of the economically inactive population. Of the remaining, the home makers’ category constitutes 26 percent. Those who are too old and young constitute 25 percent while the sick, the retired and others, make up 12 percent of the economically inactive population.

 Economic activity status and age

The age-sex specific economic activity status, presented in Table 4.2, shows that generally, employment levels among the various age groups are high, with the age group 40-44 years recording the highest proportion of persons employed (92.9%). As expected, persons in the age group 15-19 years have the least proportion of the employed. It is therefore observed that, the proportion of persons employed increases from age 15-19 years till 40-44 years and thereafter, start to decrease.

Again, unemployment levels are generally low among the different age groups. However, higher proportion of the unemployed is mainly the youth (20-29 years), recording levels of unemployment of about 2.0 percent. For the population economically not active, higher proportions are concentrated within the younger ages of 15-19 years (41.5%) and 20-24 years (22.7%) and also among the older ages of 65+ years (40.2%). Similar patterns are observed for both sexes among the different age groups.

Occupation

Occupation refers to the type of work a person is engaged in at the establishment where the person works. Table 4.3 reveals that, skilled agricultural forestry and fishery are the dominant (81.0%) occupation in the district. The majority (86.5%) of males find themselves within the skilled agricultural forestry and fishery workers compared to 76.4 percent of females in the same sector.

Also, seven percent is engaged as craft and related trade workers while six percent are service and sales workers. Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery work, remains the dominant occupation for both females (51%) and males (49%). A much higher proportion of females (83%) than males (17%) are engaged in service and sales work. These are two leading occupational categories that do not require highly skilled expertise and therefore high educational training. The proportion of males in the various occupations is higher than for females, the only exceptions being service and sales workers.

Revenue and taxes

Revenue mobilisation is the means of raising funds for the implementation of development programmes and projects to promote socio-economic development towards improving the standard of living of the people.

The main sources of revenue to the district are basic rates, property rates (bicycle rates), and cattle rates. Other sources include market tolls and store/stall rent from the Zebilla, Binaba and other markets. Revenue generated from the Town and Area Councils is paid to the district assembly, which in turn makes quarterly allocation of funds to the Councils for their routine operations.

However, it is significant to note that local revenue generation in the District is woefully inadequate to meet even recurrent expenditure much more for the implementation of physical projects. There are certain periods in the year that the Assembly hardly generates anything, particularly during the hunger gap (i.e. April to July).