Economic Characteristics

The economic activity status as well as employment activities by District  the Region as a whole, and for both males and females, more than six out of every ten persons are economically active (i.e. those employed or unemployed). Thus, for both males and females, about 30 percent are not economically active (i.e. not working and not looking for work). The three Districts with the highest proportions of economically active persons are Upper Denkyira West (77.6%), Assin North (76.5%) and Upper Denkyira East (76.4%). The lowest proportions of economically active persons are recorded in the two most urbanized Districts, Cape Coast (49.6%) and Effutu (52.1%). The differentials may be explained by the involvement in agriculture of nearly all persons in rural Districts.

The figures for males and females are about the same and follow the regional pattern. Slightly more than four in ten persons, 15 years and older in Cape Coast (54.3%), are economically not active. In five other Districts, at least three in ten are economically not active. These are Effutu (43.8%), Mfantsiman (33.4%), Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (32.4%), Gomoa East (31.0%) and Gomoa West (30.4%). The three Districts with the lowest proportions of economically not active persons are in the following three Districts: Upper Denkyira West (22.5%), Assin North (23.5%) and Upper Denkyira East (23.7%).

 66.1 percent of persons 15 years and older are employed and 3.6 unemployed. The figures for the Region are virtually the same for both males and females. Such low unemployment figures do tend to question widely used employment and unemployment indicators which focus on measuring quantity of employment. The informal nature of jobs, widespread underemployment and the quality of jobs, together reduce the level of unemployment. At the District level, there are marked variations in the proportion of the population 15 years and older who are employed. About three-quarters are employed in three districts, Assin North (74.8%), Upper Denkyira West (74.5%), and Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa (73.2%).

In contrast, only about one-half (49.6%) are employed in Cape Coast Metropolis and Effutu (52.1). Unemployment is relatively low in the Region with only 4.0 percent of persons 15 years and older recorded as unemployed. Across districts there are no marked variations in unemployment. The lowest proportions of unemployment are 1.7 percent in Assin North and 1.9 percent Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, and the highest is 5.2 percent in Gomoa East.

 Occupation of Employed Persons (15 years and Older) by District

Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers form the largest occupation group in the Region, employing 42.5 percent of all employed persons. The second largest group is service and sales workers (20.3%). Seventeen percent of employed persons are engaged in crafts and related trades. Managers, professionals, associate professionals and technicians altogether form nine percent of employed persons.

Predominantly, rural Districts have largest proportions of employed persons engaged in agriculture and fishery while in urban Districts; the largest proportions are engaged in service and sales or in craft and related trades. The three districts with the highest proportions of employed persons engaged in agriculture and fishery are Upper Denkyira West (72.1%), Assin South (67.0%) and Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa (65.2%).

The lowest proportions of employed persons are in the following three Districts: Cape Coast (6.8%), Effutu (15.9%) and Ewutu Senya (22.7%). As expected, Cape Coast has the highest proportion of professionals (13.2%) and Upper Denkyira West (2.4%) the lowest. Nearly one third of employed persons in Cape Coast (32.5%) and Ewutu Senya (30.2%) are service and sales workers. In contrast, only 7.6 percent of employed persons in Upper Denkyira West and 11.2 percent in Assin South are service or sales workers. Furthermore the two most urbanised Districts, Effutu (31.4%) and Cape Coast (23.6%).are also those with the highest proportion of employed persons engaged in craft and related activities. Crafts and related activities are secondary in nature as they receive their inputs largely from rural areas.

Industry of Employed Persons (15 years and Older)

Over four out of ten employed persons (42.6%) are in agriculture, forestry or fishing industry, 17.3 percent are in wholesale and retail, 11.6 percent are in manufacturing and 4.7 percent in education. The lowest proportions of employed persons engaged in agriculture, forestry and fishing are in Cape Coast (7.4%) and Effutu (16.1%) and the highest proportions are in Upper Denkyira West (71.7%) and Assin South (66.9%). With the exception of Gomoa West, all Districts have wholesale and retail trade as the second largest share of the employed, ranging from 5.8 percent in Upper Denkyira West to 27.0 percent in Ewutu.

The highest proportion employed in manufacturing is reported in Effutu (21.6%) and the lowest in Upper Denkyira West (3.0%). The proportion of the employed engaged in mining and quarrying is one percent or less in all Districts except in Upper Denkyira West (8.6%) and Upper Denkyira East (5.3%). The proportion engaged in construction industry ranges from about one percent in Upper Denkyira West to 5.9 percent in Ewutu Senya. The proportion of the employed in education is highest in the two most urbanised Districts, that is, Cape Coast (14.1%) and Effutu (9.2%), and lowest in the rural Districts of Upper Denkyira West (2.2%), Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam (3.3%) and Gomoa West (3.3%). In Cape Coast, 10.0 percent of employed persons are in accommodation and food service activities; the proportion is only 2.6 percent in Upper Denkyira West.

Employed Persons 15 years and Older by Status of Employment

In Central Region (65.2%) are self-employed without employee, and 16.5 percent are employees. Nearly one in ten (9.4%) of employed persons are „contributing family workers?, 1.8 percent are casual workers while 2.4 percent are apprentices. On the whole, the proportion of the self-employed with employees is low (4.1%).

The proportion of people who are self-employed (without employee) is far higher in females (72.3%) than males (56.8%). This is also true for those classified as „contributing family workers?. Conversely, the proportion of employees is higher for males (25.2%) than females (9.1%).

These findings may be explained by low educational levels of females which make it difficult for them to be engaged in the formal sectors. Many enter sales because of the small capital outlay for self-employment often in the form of petty trading.

In the urban areas (23.8%), the proportion of employees is higher than in rural areas (10.5%). In contrast, the proportions who are self-employed (without employees) or „contributing family workers? are higher in rural (69.5% and 13.3 % respectively) than in urban areas (60.0% and 4.7% respectively). This is because there are more formal job openings in urban than in rural areas while in rural areas a lot more are engaged as farmers and other agricultural work either for themselves or the family..

Although in all Districts the largest proportions of the employed are self-employed without employees, the exact proportions vary substantially. Thus, while slightly under one-half (47.0%) in Cape Coast are self-employed without employees, the proportion is three-quarters (75.6%)in Agona East, 72.5 percent in Assin South and 71.0 percent in Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam and Gomoa West (70.6%). It is likely most of the self-employed (without employees) are predominantly farmers and traders. Similarly, there are differences in the proportions of the employed who are employees, ranging from 8.8 percent in Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam to 39.0 percent in Cape Coast.

The highest proportions of the self-employed with employees is 5.5 percent in Cape Coast, and Ewutu Senya and 5.4 percent in Effutu. The lowest of 2.2 percent is in Upper Denkyira West. The proportion of the employed who are apprentices ranges from 1.1 percent in Upper Denkyira West and Assin South to 4.5 percent in Effutu. In nearly all Districts about 0.5% of the employed are domestic employees.

Employment Sector of Employed (persons 15 years and Older)

 A substantial proportion of the employed (88.2%) are in the private informal sector predominantly as farmers and traders. The proportions of males (9.0%) and females (4.3%) in public or government service are higher than those in private formal sector (7.3% males, 2.8% females). The proportion of females in the private informal sector is higher (92.6%) than males (83.1%). On the whole, there are more males in the formal sectors while more females are in the informal sector.

This has implications for women on social security, availability of banking and credit facilities. There are rural-urban differentials in sector of employment. The proportions of persons in both public (government) and private formal sections are higher for urban localities (9.1% and 7.2% respectively) than in rural areas (4.3% and 3.0% respectively). Given the predominant role played by agricultural activities, it is not surprising that the proportion of persons in the private informal sector in rural localities (92.4%) is much higher than in urban (83.2%).

At the District level, only two Districts have more than ten percent of the employed working in the public sector. The highest proportions are in Cape Coast where one-fifth of the employed (21.4%) are in the public sector and Effutu where the proportion is 13.0 percent. In eleven out of the 17 districts, the proportion of the employed in government sector is five percent or lower. This illustrates the concentration of government services in the Regional Capital. For all Districts in the Central Region, except Cape Coast and Effutu, about nine out ten of the employed are in the private informal sector. In nine Districts, the proportions in the private informal sector are more than 90 percent.