An overview of unemployment in Pakistan:
The International Labor Organization (ILO) has said that Pakistan’s labor market has not yet fully recovered from the devastating affects of corona virus and economic crisis. In this year, 2024, the number of unemployed people is expected to reach 5.6 million, an increase of 1.5 million since 2021. According to a report published in daily Dawn, ILO, in it’s annual outlook of unemployment stated that this estimate is link to the IMF report of 2023 according to which 8.5% is the expected rate of unemployment which is 6.2% more than the report published in 2021. The report also stated that the female unemployment rate could reach a high of 11.1%. The ILO warned that job losses and rampant unemployment could set back Pakistan’s progress by decades. According to ILO estimates, Pakistan’s employment-to-population ratio has fallen well below the pre-crisis trend line to 47.6% in 2023, while unemployment is expected to reach 5.6 million in 2023. There is an increase of 1.5 million since then. The challenges facing the labor market reflect Pakistan’s overall economic woes, exacerbated by the global covid-19 pandemic and the 2022 floods and the recent economic crisis. Pakistan’s recent agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is aimed at preventing default and building investor confidence. The ILO said Pakistan faces many challenges that are putting adverse affects on its labor market.
In an economic survey report, the government has published figures of unemployment in the year 2020 and 2021 according to which the percentage of unemployment in 2020 and 2021 has been reduced to 6.3 %. According to the report, the unemployment rate in the country was 6.9% in the year 2018 and 5.8% in 2017. According to the economic survey report, the number of labor force in the country is 71.76 million. 4.5 million people are unemployed under the labor force. According to the economic survey, the growth rate of economic development in the financial year 2023 was 0 29%. 1.55 % in the agriculture sector, -2.94 % in the industrial sector while the growth rate in the services sector was 0.86 %. Due to the disasters of floods, international famine and drought, the economic growth rate decreased. During May-July 2023 average inflation was recorded at 29.2 %. Inflation-related data was released, according to which the unemployment rate decreased to 6.3% in 2010 due to the increase in oil, pulses and commodity prices at the international level due to disruption in global supply. There is loss of important crops, political instability and devaluation of the rupee. The above economic indicators reflect the current situation of unemployment and its causes. From which even a common man can estimate how great is the problem of unemployment in Pakistan. If attention is not paid to the solution of this problem, this problem can put our survival in damger. Therefore, realizing the pain and necessity of unemployment, Muhammad Zaheer Awan (Shaheed) Welfare Trust (Registered) has included this issue in their goals. And the possible solution that is being considered is to create more jobs by adopting IT and advanced technology in agricultural development.
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For agriculture we can get more production from less space by working on modern principles. The details of which will come later. The most important development in employment solutions is IT (Information Technology), which is going to be the biggest industry of the future. The journey of development is still going on and there is much more to come. In the near future, almost 80% of the sectors of life will be computerized and their operating will be the job. Therefore, Muhammad Zaheer Awan (Shaheed) Welfare Trust (Registered) have made a plan to work in the field of IT with various institutions, which will benefit the youth of our country in particular and all people in general. In the future, they will stand side by side with developed nations. In this, provision of fees by the Trust on behalf of poor and needy people to the institutions which are providing education to the students by charging fees or IT related education which is very expensive and the common man cannot afford it including sponsoring the courses is part of the program. Muhammad Zaheer Awan (Shaheed) Welfare Trust (Registered) plans to create an IT center in every city of Pakistan, where at least 5000 workers can work simultaneously and find jobs.