Pakistan Employment Trends Show Unemployment Rose to 5.7% Last Year

Pakistan Employment Trends 2018, published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), has stated that the unemployment rate in Pakistan rose to 5.7 percent last year, up from 5.1 percent a decade ago.

The Ministry of Labour and Manpower (MOL & MP) was making use of LFS data to carry out “periodic assessment of employment situation” in the country. In this regard, a “Pakistan Employment Trends” report was produced within the ambit of a project initiative.

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said that the unemployment rate constituted a rising curve till 2011/12 when it was 5.7 percent, but the rate lost steam in the last three years.

According to the report, the joblessness in females is standing much higher than males in the country.

Moreover, the employment to population ratio declines a bit from 49.8% in 2006-07 to 48.9% in 2017-18 and remains in the proximity of 50% during the rest of the period.

Annual average unemployment rate stood at 5.5 percent for a decade. Unemployment rate stood at 5.8 percent in 2014/15, 5.6 percent in 2013/14, six percent in 2012/13, 5.7 percent in 2010/11, 5.3 percent 2009/10 and five percent in 2007/08.

According to the report, male and female unemployment rates show a similar pattern, however, the latter are higher than former. The gap between male and female unemployment rates does not shrink during the period.

Unemployment rate in males stood at 4.9 percent in the last fiscal year as compared to 8.5 percent in females – it was 4.7 percent versus 9.2 percent in 2014/15.

PBS data showed unemployment rate, calculated as a percentage of the active population, was the highest (7.3) percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last year, followed by 5.7 percent in Punjab, five percent in Sindh and four percent in Balochistan.

The highest female unemployment rate was, however, in Balochistan (17.3pc), followed by 11.8 percent in Sindh, 9.2 percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 7.7 percent in Punjab.

PBS said the employment to population ratio declined a bit to 48.9 percent in 2017/18 from 49.8 percent in 2006/07 and remained in the proximity of 50 percent during the rest of the period.

Share of industry in total employment was 21.4% in 2006-07, but makes a rising trend to end up at a higher level (24%) in 2017-18. Share of males rises from 23.5% to 26.0% while the share of females increases from 12.6% in 2006-07 to 16.6% in 2017-18.

PBS said that the ratio of employment in the informal sector fell to 71.4 percent in 2017/18 from 71.5 percent in 2006/07. In males, the shares were 71.6 and 71.5 percent, respectively, while the shares of females were 69.9 and 70.7, respectively.

The share of the agriculture sector in total employment charted a mild increasing trend to 43.5 percent in 2010/11 from 42 percent in 2006/07 and ended up at the lower level of 37.4 percent in 2017/18. Share of males was higher at 35 percent in 2006/07 but now stands at 29.6 percent in 2017/18.

Share of females, faring about two times higher than males, rose to 74.9 percent in 2012/13 from 71.4 percent in 2006/07 and followed a downward trend till 2017/18.

PBS further said the share of services in total employment increased to 38.6 percent in 2017/18 from 36.6 percent in 2006/07 “with a sort of sagging curvature in the middle”. Share of males increased to 44.4 percent in 2017/18 from 41.5 percent in 2006/07.”

The corresponding shares of females scaled down to 13.6 percent in 2014/15 from 16 percent in 2006/07, while it gained steam to reach 17.3 percent in 2017/18.



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