Introduction

The overall development of a district is based on the production of goods and services. Critical to the production process is the human capital of the district. Although all persons irrespective of age and sex consume goods and services produced, only a section of the total population produces them with 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. In the District, over the years, a number of job opportunities have been created in the public and private sectors in a wide range of economic activities.

Contributing to employment opportunities in any district or area are factors such as the structure of the population, proportion of the economically active population and the labour market. A detailed study of the dynamics of the population and the labour market helps to identify the employment opportunities available and the structure of the economy. The population census results for various years provide data on the labour force and economic characteristics of the population.

This chapter analyses the economic activities pursued by the economically active (employed and the unemployed) and economically not active populations. Each of these population characteristics are analysed by age, sex, locality of residence (urban or rural area), marital status, level of education, region, sector and status of employment.

Economic Activity Status

The question on economic activity was asked of all persons five years and above who engaged in any activity for pay (cash or kind) or profit or family gain for at least one hour during the seven days preceding census night.

Economic activity status by sex

Table 4.1 shows that, in 2010, nearly three-quarters (72.7%) of the population aged 15 years and older are economically active within the seven days preceding the census night whilst slightly over a quarter (27.3%) are economically not active. Out of the economically active population, 97.5 percent are employed and 2.5 percent are unemployed. Regarding the economically not active population, students constitute the majority (47.7%) whilst pensioners/retirees have the least proportion of 2.1 percent among the economically not active population.

In general, almost equal proportions of males (97.8%) and females (97.3%) are employed. More females are economically not active (28.2%) than males (26.3%). The proportion of females engaged in household chores (29.3%) is higher than males (15.0%) since these activities are considered as women’s work. Overall, the population 15 years and older who constitute the largest percentage of the economically not active population are persons in full time education.

Table 4.2 shows the economic activity status of the population 15 years and older by sex and age. For all the age groups, 70.9 percent of the population are employed, 1.8 percent are unemployed and the economically not active constitute 27.3 percent. Persons aged 15-19 have 68.8 percent of their population being economically not active with 29.2 percent being employed and 2 percent unemployed seven days prior to the census night. The data shows a gradual rise from 29.2 percent at age 15-19 for the employed, and then peaks at 92.4 percent at age 50-54 and gradually decreases as age increases.

The data by sex show similar patterns. Male-female differentials show that for all the age groups, there are slightly more employed males (72.1%) than females (69.8%). However, the proportion of females who are unemployed exceeds their male counterparts for the age groups. A similar trend is also identified with the economically not active population.

Occupation

Table 4.3 presents the distribution of the employed population 15 years and older by occupation and sex in the District. About three-quarters of the employed population are skilled agricultural forestry and fishery workers (74.6%). Service and sales workers came next with 9.1 percent with craft and related trades workers 6.8 percent and managers, professionals, and technicians 3.5 percent whilst clerical support workers having the least number of employed persons (0.3%).

Among the males, skilled agricultural forestry and fishery workers represent the highest occupational sector with 76.5 percent, followed by craft and related trades workers 7.4 percent and professionals recorded 4.6 percent. Females who are skilled agricultural forestry and fishery workers constitute 72.8 percent, service and sales workers, 14 percent and craft and related trades workers 6.4 percent. From the Table, majority of the economically active population are engaged in agricultural activities which depict how agrarian the economy of the District is. Since farming is physically intensive, males appear to be more dominant in that sector than females.