Tuesday, 3 June 2014

Survey shows unemployment not under control

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Survey 2013-14 reveals that the unemployment rate in Pakistan has increased to 6.2 percent compared to 5.6 percent in 2009-10. The unemployment is the highest in Punjab.
According to the Survey, unemployment remained same in the urban areas while it increased in rural areas from 4.8 percent in 2009-10 to 5.1 percent in 2012-13.In Pakistan, according to the Economic Survey, unemployment rate is increasing in both Agriculture mechanization is major cause of reducing absorption capacity of this sector.

Although industries are being setup in some rural areas, however, employment generation opportunities due to these industries is not comparably higher.The unemployment rate in urban areas is even more than in rural areas. This high rate of unemployment is mainly due to two reasons, first is rural urban migration which is cause increasing urban population whereas job opportunities are not increasing accordingly.

The province wise comparison shows that the number of unemployed people increased in Punjab from 2.10 million in 2010-11 to 2.28 million in 2012-13. The number of unemployed people increased in Punjab is more as compared to other provinces. The apparent reason of high unemployment in Punjab is highest population among all provinces.

In case of Balochistan 0.10 million people are unemployed in 2012-13 an increase of almost 0.3 million people as compared to 2011-12. The main reasons of this increasing unemployment are bad infrastructure, law and order situation and lack of business and industrial activities.

The employment rate in Sindh decreased from 5.2 percent in 2011-12 to 5.0 percent in 2012-13. Whereas the rate in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan increased to 6.1 percent, 8.5 percent and 4.0 percent respectively as compared to the same period.

According to gender break-up, the Economic Survey 2013-14 shows that the female unemployment rate increased to 9.0 percent in 2012-13 as compared to 8.9 percent in 2010-11.While male unemployment ratio surge to 5.4 percent in said periods as compared t0 5.1 percent.

Province wise break-up shows that female unemployment rate in Sindh increased to 8.2 percent in 2012-13 from 7.2 percent in 2010-11, however, male unemployment rate in Sindh declined to 4.4 percent from 4.8 percent in comparison under review.

During 2012-13 in Punjab, female unemployment rate remained stable to 8.3 percent while male unemployment rate increased to 5.2 percent from 4.7 percent in periods under review.Interestingly, female unemployment rate in Balochistan decreased to 7.0 percent from 7.9 percent while male unemployment rate surged to 3.6 percent from 2.5 percent in said periods.

The data on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa showed similar statistics to Balochistan as female unemployment rate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa decreased to 16.3 percent from 16.5 while male unemployment rate increased to 6.7 percent in 2012-13 from 5.9 in 2010-11.

The overall main causes of unemployment are rising population, law and order situation, lack of technical education and shortage of skill training institutes.“Youth is also facing many challenges but some of these are common in the overall labour market,” states the Survey.

However, government is well aware of these issues and focusing on long term investment in human capital through formal and informal education and strategically strengthening the links between education, skill development and the labour market would greatly benefit youth in the long term, it concluded.

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