Unemployment in Pakistan

Unemployment in Pakistan

Outline

        I.            The word unemployed means remain without work. It is one of the major issues Pakistan has been dealing with since its inception. By highlighting its causes, we can find out proper ways to overcome this issue.  

     II.            Unemployment situation in Pakistan.

  III.            There numerous causes of unemployment in Pakistan.

a)     The foremost cause is the population explosion.

b)    Secondly, the flawed education system.

c)     Third major cause is bad governance.

d)    Fourthly, the world’s economy is shifting from manufacturing to service sector wherein the hoteling and tourism is top of the list, and Pakistan is lacking behind.

e)     Above and beyond, the energy crisis is one of the cause of unemployment.

f)      Last but not least, bleak picture of agriculture sector is one the major cause of unemployment.

   IV.            To come out from this mire, it is recommended that;

a)     Revolutionary changes in country’s educations system, is foremost need of the time.

b)    The age of retirement should be reduced.

c)     Energy crisis must be the top priority of the government.

d)    Tourism and hoteling must be enhanced.

e)     Peace is inevitable so that foreign investment may come.

f)      Agricultural and industrial reforms.

     V.            Lastly, the potential of exiting young population, who are 60 percent of the total; a big labor force; a big market and all of their benefits which those countries who are lacking with it feel, must be utilized

The word unemployed means remain without work. Unemployment basically is define as “the condition of having no job or being out of work or proportion of people which are able to work actively searching jobs but they are unable to find it.” It is a common word nowadays. It can be seen that in spite of education, there are many people that are without jobs. Widespread and persistent unemployment is one of the serious macroeconomic problems, both developing and developed countries in the world. By highlighting its causes in Pakistan, we can find out proper ways to overcome this issue.  

It is one of the major issues Pakistan has been dealing with since its inception. In Pakistan, unemployment is very high because the available resources are being wasted due to negligence of authorities and of citizens. This has led to a substantial decrease in people’s incomes and a drop in their standard of living. This is the crisis that can be termed as the root cause of many other serious challenges we are coping with today. Thousands of graduates, master’s degree holders, engineers in short, people of almost every profession being wasted due to unstable employment system in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, the situation is not good. The Pakistan Employment Trends report of 2017-18, published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, reflects that unemployment number stood at 5.7% – a decimal point lower than the last surveyed year, 2014-15. The economic growth rate that was 5.2% in the last fiscal year is projected to stand at only 2.9% by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for this fiscal year. The IMF has also projected average 2.5% economic growth rate for next five years – a pace that will surely increase unemployment and poverty in the country. And unemployment is forecasted to be increased at 6.140 % in Dec 2019 as reported by International Monetary Fund—World Economic Outlook, and is projected to stand at 6.457 % in Dec 2024.

There numerous causes of unemployment in Pakistan. The foremost cause is the population explosion. Pakistan has the population of 33 million in 1950 and today it is around 210 million; it has ranked us sixth most populous country after China, India, USA, Indonesia, and Brazil. In terms of land area Pakistan is 34th and shares 0.6% of the world area and in terms of Human Development Indicator, it has 150th position in the world, until 2018. Further, Pakistan also has the highest population growth rate at around 1.90% or as per UNESCO’s statistics 2%. Moreover, it shares 2.81% of the total world population, wherein 34.9 % of its population is urban. Each family in Pakistan on average has 3.1 children. If the population of the country continues to grow with the same rate (1.90%), it is likely to double in next 37 years, making Pakistan 3rd most populous country of the world; whereas land area will remain the same rather will be reduced due to residential plans.

Secondly, the flawed education system. Education is a social instrument through which a man can guide his destiny and shape his future. It is a known fact that sustainable economic development is impossible without improvement in human capital. Education plays an important role in the building of human capital. The government is bound to fulfill its job as per Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 4, which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all citizens; through tangible improvements in country’s education. But, unfortunately, the education system in Pakistan has been really poor.  

Furthermore, although according to Labour Force Survey 2017-18, literacy rate trends shows 62.3 percent in 2017-18 as compared to 60.7 percent in 2014-15, yet  according to UNDP’s Human Development Report 2018, Pakistan is still ranked 150th out of 189 countries. According to the educational indicators only Afghanistan lags behind Pakistan in the context of regional comparison. All other regional countries have shown improvement in HDI in comparison to Pakistan. With the Public Expenditure 2.4 percent of GDP in 2017-18 on education and despite of the fact that, as per UNESCO’s report, 22.84 million children are out of the school, government still grants Rs 28.64 billion out of the total demand of Rs 55 billion. This shows our apathy towards the education.

Third major cause is bad governance. It has resulted in the deterioration of education and health sector. Besides, nepotism, favouritism, corruption, and might is right becomes the order of the day. Criminals are roaming with impunity; eventually the crime ratio is still increasing. Further, in bad governance the bureaucratic shenanigans and their secretive behaviour also diminishes the concept of transparency. Resultantly, successive governments one by one are failing to create sufficient jobs for the educated youth of this country,

Fourthly, the world’s economy is shifting from manufacturing to service sector wherein the hoteling and tourism is top of the list.  Countries like Switzerland, Thailand, Philippines, Maldives and Sri Lanka demonstrate that sustainable tourism is a tool for development. As per Forbes, the travel and tourism sector grew more in 2018 than all other economic sectors by adding a record $8.8 trillion to the world's combined Gross Domestic Product and by creating 319 million new jobs. In Pakistan, travel and tourism currently contributing 7.4 % of the GDP and in this regard World Tourism and Travel Council predicts that Pakistan’s tourism industry has the potential to grow to around US$ 39.8 billion within a decade. However, besides paper enthusiasm, the tourism and hoteling sector is also showing a sorry picture.

Above and beyond, the energy crisis is one of the cause of unemployment. It is admitted that, energy demand and economic growth shares a tight bond. Pakistan is overcoming a severe energy crisis that has directly and indirectly affected all sectors of the economy. Although massive projects with great political optics were incorporated to the supply side in between years 2013-18, adding a cumulative capacity of 12,230 MW, yet the transmission and distribution side congestion and inefficiencies has hampered the sustained delivery of energy services. Due to which major portion of factories have been shifted in other countries, leaving behind huge unemployment.

Last but not least, bleak picture of agriculture sector is one the major cause of unemployment. Agriculture contributes 18.5 percent to country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides 38.5 percent employment to national labour force but it remains backward sector of the economy while high performing agriculture is a key to economic growth and poverty alleviation. Over the last decade, the performance of agriculture sector has fallen short of desirable level, mainly because of stagnant productivity of all important crops. Cropped area of the five traditional crops has also largely remained unchanged. Climate change also poses a serious challenge to Pakistan’s agriculture and threatens country’s water availability and food security.

To come out from this mire, it is recommended that revolutionary changes in country’s educations system, is foremost need of the time. The prevalent system is producing only the people who are not highly skilled as per the requirements of the job market. Further,     an organized and well – thought – out syllabus should be introduced in technical training and vocational institutions. More and more institutions should be established to produce skilled technical workers for our industries.

    Moreover, the age of retirement should be reduced to a maximum of 55 years. In addition, the culture of ad hoc appointments and extensions in tenure or in contract should also be eliminated.

    Further, to come out from energy crisis must be the top priority of the government. It is the only panacea if we want to attract foreign investment in the country. If foreign investors come to Pakistan, then job opportunities to our youth will be easily available.

    Besides, there should be peace across the country so foreigners may not hesitate from investing in Pakistan. The agriculture sector should be developed. Merit base jobs should be given forthwith to the educated so that country may not suffer from more brain drain. Robust policies must be introduced to control growing population. Family planning centers can be an effective tool in this regard.

 In addition, economic revival package must be announced by the government in order to make sure the industrial sector is revived and more investment and production is carried out in Pakistan. And service sector industry, tourism and hoteling should be focused.

Lastly, as our government already recognized the potential of exiting young population, who are 60 percent of the total; a big labor force; a big market and all of their benefits which those countries who are lacking with it feel, must be utilized. They must be converted into human capital so that current population proves to be a blessing for Pakistan.