THE DISTRICT MICRO ECONOMY

This section deals with analysis of the district economic activities (agriculture, industry manufacturing, tourism and commerce) including economic infrastructure such as transport, communication, energy and markets among others.

Introduction

Generally, development of a country is based on the production of goods and services. Essential to this production process is the human capital of the country. Although all persons irrespective of age and sex consume goods and services produced, only a section of the total population produces them: a working population often referred to as the “employed’. The type of economic activity pursued is influenced by the nature of the economy and level of socio-economic development (Hull, 2009). Generally, the larger the employed population with the right attitude, the more wealth is created leading to the general well-being of the population.

Contributing to employment opportunities in any country or area depends on factors such as the structure of the population, proportion of the economically active population and the labour market. A detail study of the dynamics of the population and the labour market helps to identify the employment opportunities available and the structure of the economy. This chapter presents the economic status of persons within the West Gonja District along the lines of economically active and economically not active population by sex.

Economic Activity Status

Economic activity status of persons fifteen years and older in West Gonja District is discuss in this section. The 2010 population and housing census defined the economically active population as the employed and unemployed populations 15 years and older.

Table 4.1 indicates that a total 63.4 percent are economical active of which 95.4 are employed. Of the employed population, 95.4 percent are employed. Also, it is observed that a large proportion (55.2%) of the unemployed population in the District actually worked before in the last seven days to census night, while44.8 percent are seeking work for the first time.

The economically not active population of the District constitutes 36.6 percent of population 15 years and older. A significant portion of this group is made up of persons in full time education (52.1%). Persons with some form of disability or who are sick and cannot work, together with persons who are too old or too young to work, also form about 14.6 percent

Employed population 15 years and older by sex, age and activity status

The Table 4.2 presents the characteristics of the employed population and activity status by age cohorts in the District. It is realized that, between the age groups 15-19 and 40-44, the proportion of the employed population increases but decline thereafter. On the other hand, the proportion of the economically not active population decreases with increasing age till age group 45-49 where it starts to decline though with some variations. The table further shows that less than half (48.2%) of the employed population 15 years and older are found between the age groups 15-19 and 30-34. This same age group records the highest proportion of unemployed population of 68.6 percent. This phenomenon is explained by a myriad of factors such as the age structure of the population and students leaving school and searching for jobs. This situation renders them unemployed for a while and economically not active as at the time of pursuing education. In terms of sex distribution, there exist significant variations between the age groups 15-19 and 30-34 among males and females. Males record the highest proportion of employed population of 64.6 percent than females 56.5 percent. Conversely, the proportion of the economically not active population for females of 40.2 percent exceeds that of males (33.0%). This is explained by the situation of higher school attendance for males than females.

Occupation

Table 4.3 shows the distribution of type of occupation by employed population 15 years and older by sex. The Table shows a total employed population of 14,215 persons with a male proportion of 52.6 percent and a female proportion of 47.4 percent. Skilled agricultural forestry and fishery workers forms the largest number (8,602) of the employed population 15 years and older with a male proportion of 62.0 percent and a female proportion of 38.0 percent. This implies that three out of every five persons engaged in this forms of occupation are males compared to two out of five persons for females.

Craft and related trades workers and services and sales workers successively follow with either one of them having male-female proportions 23.2 percent and 76.8 percent, and 28.7 percent and 71.3 percent of males and females respectively. With the exception of service and sales workers, craft and related trades workers and elementary occupations, male dominance is found in all occupations in the District. The occupation with the least number of persons (108) in the District is found to be clerical support services, which has a male proportion 63.0 percent and a female proportion of 37.0 percent.