Introduction

The overall development of any society is based on the production of goods and services. The District production process is driven by its human capital. Thus, the volume of goods and services needed in the District is produced by a section of the total population: a working population often referred to as the “employed’. The type of economic activity pursued is influenced by nature of the economy and level of socio-economic development (Hull, 2009). Generally, the larger the employed population, the more wealth is created leading to the general well-being of the population (GSS, 2012). This chapter, therefore, analyses the economic activity status of the population.

Economic Activity Status

The age structure of a population is an important factor in determining the labour force of the District. Table 4.1 presents information on the persons 15 years and older by sex, age and activity status. The age group with the highest proportion of employed (92.1%) population is 45-49.

The second highest is the 50-54 age group (92.0%) and the age group with the least employed population is 15-19 age group (29.2%). For the unemployed, the age group 20-24 recorded the highest figure of 4.0 percent while the age group 45-49 recorded the lowest figure of 0.3 percent. The data further reveals a greater proportion (69.8%) of the 15-19 age group is economically not active population. Similarly, 41.3 percent of the 65+ age group is economically not active population.

In terms of sex, males in the 50-54 recorded the highest proportion (94.7%) of the employed population while 15-19 age groups recorded the least, 33.9 percent. For the unemployed, the highest percentage 3.5 percent occurred in the 20-24 age groups while 45-49 age groups has the least proportion (0.2%) of the unemployed population. The highest proportion of the economically not active population is in 15-19 age group (65.6%) for males while the lowest (4.5%) is in the 40-44 age groups.

For the female population, the highest proportion of the employed population is in the 44-49 age groups (90.4%) while the lowest proportion is in the 15-19 age groups (24.0%). Among the unemployed females the highest proportion (4.6%) is in 20-24 age groups while the lowest (0%) is recorded in the 55-59 age groups. Table 4.1 further revealed the highest proportion of the economically not active females (74.5%) is in the 15-19 age groups.