Unemployment in Pakistan

Article: By Khuda-i-Dost



“A person is unemployed if he or she does not work during the preceding week but made some efforts to find work for the past four weeks”. A person is unemployed who has ability to do work and is willing to do work but is unable to get a job opportunity.

Unemployment is one of the major problems of Pakistan. The level of unemployment is rising. Presently, more than three million people are unemployed in Pakistan and unemployment ratio is more than 12%. The socio economic system of the country and institutions has failed to provide employment to the increasing labor force. The rate of expansion in industrial sector is very slow. The increasing labor force has not been absorbed.

Technical, professional and vocational institutions are limited in number. Nationalization of industrial units very badly affected the investment at industrial sector. The private investors shifted their capital to other countries. Downsizing in many government offices and within the private sector has aggravated the problem.

In addition, past government policies have also increased unemployment rate in the shape of Golden Shake Hand, ban on jobs increased unemployment rate. The higher growth rate of population is also the major cause of unemployment.

Unemployment is a central problem of Pakistan because when unemployment is at its peak, resources are wasted and earnings are depressed. During such period, economic distress also spills over to affect emotions and family lives.

The major causes for unemployment among the poor in Pakistan include lack of technical skills, little or no education, low income worsened by indebtedness to moneylenders, no career guidance, lack of awareness regarding available jobs, high expectations without commensurate experience, little understanding of work ethics and the weak economy.

Low income can be improved by small enterprise development (SED) activities, industrial and technical skills, increased financial resources and management skills and increased participation of women in economic activities providing more income for the family as compared to a single breadwinner.

Political instability is one with the successive governments failing to come up with any substantial plan to tackle growing unemployment. People have lost their hopes and find ill ways to satisfy their utmost needs. It is anticipated that if no concrete actions are taken against these problems in the coming years, the crime rate will become three times higher than the present. People will become poorer and will lose hope and trust in Government.

Government should make efforts to push economic growth process and should seriously try to boost exports through broadening the tax base and lowering tariffs. Package should be announced for the development of agriculture sector. A number of fiscal and monetary measures should be taken to attract industrialists and particularly foreign investment. More technical and vocational training facilities should be provided. In this way unemployed people will get the chance to enhance their skills and become able to earn reasonable income.

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Samar Ahsan.