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Article

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A recent World Bank study surprisingly shows Pakistan as among the world’s largest job creators in the noughties .The quality of jobs, however, was poor: low-skilled and low productivity. Of the 15 million jobs created between 2000 and 2009, more than a third were in agriculture, the remainder in services and manufacturing. The share of agriculture in total employment was 45 percent, services 35 percent and manufacturing, 20 percent. Only 21 percent of women compared with 82 percent of men participated in the labour force.

The above results are not reassuring for the future on several counts. Demographic changes have produced a bulge in youth seeking employment. Most of the youth would have acquired some formal education, spurring demand for better quality jobs. They are, however, ill-equipped to meet the requirements of the economy. The other disturbing news is that the country’s female population is not participating in national income generation activities despite having acquired professional degrees. Although the numbers graduating from educational institutions has certainly gone up, there is a failure to allocate and utilize them properly. It is not rare to see Master’s degree holders stuck in low-paid and low-productivity jobs because they do not have connections, influence or the ability to bribe. Children from influential families, on the other hand, may not be suitably qualified but are able to capture high placed jobs.

Publication Source

The News

Publication Date

10-21-2013

Pages

1-3

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