Economic Activity Status

Table 4.1 shows the activity status for the population 15 years and older by sex in the THLDD. The population 15 years and older is made up the economically active and the economically not active. The total of the employed and the unemployed constitutes the economically active population 15 years and older. Table 4.1 shows that 72.2 percent of the population in the district is economically active and 27.8 percent not economically active.

The Table also shows that majority of the economically active population are employed (97.6%) while a few (2.4%) are unemployed. Of the employed, majority (96.6%) are working whiles (3.4%) did not work but had job to go back to. Among the unemployed, 34.5 percent had worked before, were available and seeking for work while 65.5 percent were seeking work for the first time. For the economically not active, more than half (52.5%) were in full time education followed by one quarter (25.3%) who did home duties. When the data is disaggregated by sex, slightly a higher proportion of males (74.3%) than females (71.7%) are economically active. Conversely, the proportion of economically not active females (28.1%) is relatively higher than the corresponding male proportion (27.4%).

Almost the same proportion of males and females (97.9% and 97.3%) are respectively employed while unemployed males and females are 2.1 percent and 2.7 percent respectively. For the economically not active population, more males (62.5%) are in full time education than females (43.4%) whiles the reverse is the case for those engaged in home duties. Here females (31.7%) outnumber males (18.2%). 4.2.1 Activity status by sex and age Table 4.2 shows the activity status of the population 15years and older by sex and age.  From the Table, the age group 25-29 years has the largest employed population (13.8%) in the district. All the age groups within 20-44 years have proportions of the employed population more than 10 percent. Teenagers (15-19 years) constitute 5.8 percent of the employed population whereas those aged 60-64 years constitute the smallest proportion (3.9%).

This low rate of employment among the aged is that they are dominated by pensioners and those who are infirm due to poor health. The age group 20-24 years has the highest proportion of the unemployed (36.4%). Nearly three quarters (73.6%) of the unemployed population are 15-29 years. The lowest proportions (1.1%) of unemployed are in 55-59 years and 65 years and above. More than 70 percent of the economically not active population is between 15-30 years. Economically not active males (78.9%) between 15-30 years are more than corresponding females (65.7%) in the same age bracket. The large concentration of the age group 15-30 years in the district reflects the growing challenge of youth unemployment, mainly school graduates from JHS, SHS and tertiary educational establishments.

Occupation

Table 4.3 presents occupation of the employed population 15 years and older by sex in Hemang Lower Denkyira District. Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers form the largest occupation group in the District employing 65.7 percent of all employed persons. The second and third largest groups are service and sales workers, and craft and related trade workers employing 11.2 and 10.6 percent respectively. The remaining includes managers, professionals, technicians and others who constitute 12.6 percent. Occupation for both male and female populations in the district follow similar pattern as the total district population except for the services and sales which the proportion of employed males (17.6%) far exceeds the corresponding female proportion (4.3%), and plant and machinery operators and assemblers which are largely preserve of males (6.0% for males and 0.2% for females).

Industry

Table 4.4 shows the types of industries by sex for employed persons in the district. Agriculture, forestry and fishing constitute the largest industry in the district employing 65.8 percent of the population. This confirms the economic status of the district as an agrarian district. More than nine percent of the population are into wholesale and retail; repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles industry, and followed by the manufacturing industry (8.9%). All other industries employ less than one fifth of the district’s active population. An observation from Table 4.4 reviews that both wholesale/retail and manufacturing industries employ more females than males whiles agriculture, forestry and fishing have more males than females

Also, real estate activities and activities of extraterritorial organization and bodies do not exist in the district. 4.5 Employment Status Figure 4.2 presents the employment status of employed population 15 years and older. The figure shows that self-employed without employees constitutes the highest (72.3%) in the district. These are likely to be micro and small-scale enterprises operating in the informal sector, with limited capital and use of technology.

Disaggregate data by sex as presented in Table 4.5 reveals that females who are selfemployed without employee(s) (74.6%) and contributing family workers (14.3%) are more than the corresponding male counterparts, 69.8% and 9.1% respectively. Meanwhile, employed males (14.1%) are more than employed females (5.6%).

Employment Sector

Figure 4.3 presents employment sectors of the employed population 15 years and older. The figure shows that the private informal sector is dominant. All other sectors put together are less than 10 percent. Figure 4.3 shows that in the HLDD, the private sector (private formal and private informal) is the largest employer forming 95 percent of the employed population which is higher than the regional average of 93.1 percent.