Introduction

The overall development of a country is dependent on the production of goods and services, which is also made possible by the human resource of the country. Although all persons, irrespective of age and sex, consume the goods and services, only the section of the total population in employment contributes to the production of these goods and services.

Generally, the larger the employed population, the more wealth is created leading to the general well-being of the population. Contributing to the issues regarding employment are key factors such as changes in the structure of the population in terms of the proportion of economically active persons and the state of the labour market.

This chapter analyses changes in the structure of the population of Zabzugu District based on the 2010 PHC, in terms of the proportion of economically active and economically not active persons in the total population and the proportion of the employed and unemployed in relation to the economically active population and the economically not active population. Each of these population characteristics is related to age, sex, locality (i.e. urban or rural), marital status and level of education.

 Economic Activity Status

Table 4.1 represents the population 15 years and older and their economic activity status by sex. Data on economic activity status is collected for persons 15 years and older. From Table 4.1, 81.6 percent of persons 15 years and above (34,168) are economically active and the rest (18.4 percent) are economically not active.

A higher proportion of the male populations is economically active (84.2 percent) and 79.4 percent of the female population is economically active. However, the reverse is the case for those economically not active (15.8% for male population and 20.6 percent for the female population). Out of the economically active population, 97.7 percent are employed and 2.3 percent are unemployed.

More than nine out of 10 of those employed worked while the rest did not work but had jobs to go back to (1.0 %) and those who did voluntary work without pay constituted 0.2 percent. The proportion of male population employed is slightly higher (98.4%) than the proportion for the female population employed (97.1%).

A greater proportion of the economically not active population in the district are in full time education (36.8%) and those who did home duties or household chores constituted 31.4 percent.

Activity status and age

Table 4.2 shows the employed population 15 years and older by sex, age group and activity status for the Zabzugu District. The proportion of the employed population in the district is over 90 percent for the age groups 35-39 to 45-49, with the highest proportion of 91.8 percent among the age group 40-44 years. The trend is similar for the male and female populations.

With regard to the unemployed population, the proportion of unemployed in the district is higher for the age groups 20-24, 25-29 and 60-64, with the highest (6.8%) proportion being those in the age group 60-64. But the pattern varies for the male and female populations. The proportion of the unemployed among male population is generally lower than that among the female population except for the age group 25-29 years.

Most of the economically not active are in the 65+, 15-19 and 20-24 years age groups, with the highest (37.7%) proportion found in the age group 65+. The proportion of the economically not active aged 15-19 years is 33.3 percent.

The female population is no exception, as 77.2 percent (14,168) of them are employed while the rest are either unemployed or economically inactive. The highest employment figures in the female population came from the age group 25-44 at about 87 percent whiles the lowest is 46.3 percent at age group 65+.

 Occupation

The employed population 15 years and older by occupation and sex in the district is shown in Table 4.3. Skilled agriculture, forestry and fishery works constituted more than three-quarters (86.3%) of the employed population 15 years and older in the district. The proportion for male is 92.6 percent and the female is 80.4 percent.

The occupations with the lowest (0.2%) proportion in the district are clerical support workers and technicians, with 0.3 percent for males and 0.1 percent for females. The proportion of female (6.0%) engaged as craft and related trades workers is a little over three times that of the males (1.8%).