Introduction

The 2010 Population and Housing Census collected information on economic activities on persons five years and older who worked for at least an hour in the 7 days preceding the census night. Information was also collected on those who did not work during the reference period but had jobs to go back to and those who did not work at all but are seeking for work (GSS, 2013a, 2013b). The analysis however is done with reference to the population 15 years and older.

The main focus of the analysis is on five areas, economic activity status, occupation, industry, and employment status and employment sector. There is also information on the economically active population and economically not active population, the employed and unemployed.

Economic Activity Status

Activity status refers to economic and non-economic activity of respondents during the seven days preceding the census. The censuses conducted over the years have adopted standard internationally- accepted definitions and concepts for economic activity. Information on type of activity was collected on persons five years and above in order to meet current international standards. For this chapter however, analysis was restricted to the population 15 years and older.

The economically not active population is made up of those who, during the reference period, did not work and were not seeking for work. They are classified by reasons for not being economically active. They include homemakers, full-time students, retired persons and people with disabilities who were unable to work because of their age or disability.

Economic Activity Status by Sex

Table 4.1 provides information on the economic activity status of the population 15 years and older. It shows that out of the total population of 32,461 persons aged 15 years and older in Sene West District, with 78.2 percent economically active. For the 25,390 economically active persons in the District, 98.4 percent are employed. The employed comprise 97.6 percent who have worked, 2.1 percent who are not working but have jobs to go back to.

On the other hand, the unemployed, that is persons who worked before, seeking work and are available, and persons seeking work for the first time and are available, constitute 1.6 percent of the economically active persons in the District. Among the unemployed 52 percent are new entrants into the job market i.e. first time job seekers and 48.0 percent have worked before but are, at the time of the census, seeking work and available.

The economically not active people fall into four main categories. About one-half of the economically not active (54.1%) are in full time education while about one-quarter (23.4%) do home duties (household chores). The third main group consists of those who are too old/young and/or retired who make up 13.4 percent of the population. The fourth, disabled people who cannot work, make up 5.8 percent of the population. 

In terms of sex, Table 4.1 also shows that among the population 15 years and older, there are slightly more females, (50.1%) than males of 49.9 percent. However, the proportion of economically active males (80.2%) is slightly more than economically active females (76.2%). In terms of those employed, almost all of the economically active males (98.7%) and the economically active females (98.1%) are employed. Among the employed population, the same proportion of females (2.2%) as males (2.1%) did not work in the reference period for varied reasons but had their job to go back to. Proportionally more females (1.9%) than males 1.3 percent are unemployed. About 52.0 percent of the unemployed are first time job seekers with a higher proportion of them (60.2%) being males. The corresponding proportion for females is 45.9 percent. However, more unemployed females (54.1%) have worked before compared to 39.8 percent of unemployed males.

Economic Activity Status

Table 4.2 provides data on the economic activity status of the population 15 years and older by age and sex. About 77.0 percent of persons aged 15 or more are employed, followed by economically not active (21.8%) and unemployed (1.2%). Within the age groupings, the proportion employed rises steadily from as low as 45.7 percent in the 15-19 years age group to a peak of 95.0 percent in the age group 40-44 years. It reduces slightly to 94.4 percent in the age group 45-49 years before falling gradually with increasing age to 60.3 percent in age group 65 years and older.

The proportion of unemployed rises from a low of 1.1 percent in the age group 15-19 years doubles to 2.4 percent for the 20-24 year group and drops to 1.6 percent in the 25-29 year age group. It declines steadily with age from age group 30-34 years and beyond. Overall, unemployment in the District is 1.2 percent. The higher level of unemployment for age groups 20-24 years and 25-29 years may mean that probably many school graduates have passed out and are in pursuit of job opportunities which are not easily available. 45

On the other hand, the proportion of economically not active is high (53.2%) in age group 15-19 years and drops significantly by about one-half to 27.6 percent in the 20-24 year group. The high proportion economically not active also indicates that a larger population in this 15-19 years age group might be students. The proportion of economically not active continues to decline with advancing age to age 40-44 years and then rises again for every age group until 65 years and older.

In relation to sex distribution, the Table also shows a similar pattern of economic activity status as by age as is observed for the entire District except that the proportions differ in magnitude for males and females. For example, whereas the proportions of males employed in age group 40-44 years is 97.1 percent, the proportion of females employed in that same age group is 92.8 percent. On the other hand, whereas the proportion of males economically not active in age group 60-64 years is 7.9 percent, the proportion of females economically not active in that same age group is 20.4 percent.

The proportional distribution of activity status by age illustrates the distinction between age-based dependency and economic dependency. For instance, in theory, the population aged 15-64 years are expected to be economically active while those aged 0-14 and 65+ are expected to be economically non active and therefore economically dependent on the population age 15-64 years. But Table 4.2 shows that 60.3 percent of the population aged 65+ are economically active (currently employed) when in theory they are supposed to be economically dependent on the population aged 15-64 years.

Similarly, 20.4 percent of the population aged 15-64 years is economically non-active when they are expected to be economically active. The non-activity status of this group is mainly concentrated in the age group 15–19 years and 20-24 years who are economically not active because they are mainly schooling. However the economic non-activity status of this group decreases with age. For instance, the proportion of the age group 15–19 years that is economically not active is 53.2 percent compared to 27.6 percent of the age group 20–24 years and 11.9 percent of age group 25–29 years.