KP has highest unemployment rate among provinces: survey

ISLAMABAD: With the claim of a decline in the unemployment rate at the national level, the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province tops for having an 8.8 percent unemployment rate among all the four provinces during the financial year 2020-21.

The Labor Force Survey (LFS) released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed that the unemployment rate in Pakistan improved and stood at 6.3 percent in 2020-21 against 6.9 percent in 2018-19.

The breakdown of the unemployment rate among the four provinces showed that in the KP province, where the PTI ruled for the last nine years, the unemployment rate has gone up to 8.8 percent in 2020-21.

Although, the unemployment rate stood at 10.3 percent in KP during the fiscal year 2018-19, but if the unemployment rate in KP is compared with 2017-18, it stood at 7.2 percent. It indicates that the unemployment rate increased in KP in 2020-21, if compared with the fiscal year 2017-18. But it got improved if compared with the fiscal year 2018-19.

The unemployment rate in KP stood at 8.6 percent in accordance with LFS 2012-13, so in the last nine years, it increased from 8.6 percent to 8.8 percent. The PTI-led government failed to check the unemployment rate, but secured a majority and formed the government in the province for second time by winning the last general elections in 2018.

The unemployment rate in Punjab stands at 6.8 percent in accordance with the findings of LFS for 2020-21 against 7.4 percent in 2018-19. The unemployment rate was hovering around 6.4 percent in fiscal year 2012-13, which declined to six percent in 2017-18. The comparison between these two surveys showed that the unemployment rate improved in Punjab during the tenure of PMLN from 2013 to 2017-18.

The unemployment rate in Sindh showed some interesting results, reflecting the province stands at the lowest on account of unemployment rate, as it stood at 3.9 percent in 2020-21, the lowest among all four provinces.

The PPP has been ruling Sindh since 2008 and the LFS found that the unemployment rate stood at 5.2 percent in fiscal year 2012-13, which declined to 4.9 percent in 2017-18. The unemployment rate further declined in Sindh during 2018-19, as it reduced to four percent. The unemployment rate stands at 3.9 percent in accordance with the LFS for 2020-21.

In Balochistan, the unemployment rate stands at 4.3 percent in 2020-21 against 4.6 percent in 2018-19. The unemployment rate in Balochistan stood at 3.9 percent in 2012-13, which increased to 4.1 percent in fiscal year 2017-18.

Another aspect showed in the LFS for 2020-21 is that the monthly average wage was higher in Balochistan than the national level, as it stood at Rs27,659 per month in the most neglected and poorest province of the country. The monthly average wage is the lowest in Punjab, as it stands at Rs23,367 per month.

The monthly national average wage stood at Rs24,028. The monthly average wage in KP stood at Rs24,172, Punjab Rs23,367, Sindh Rs24,664 and Balochistan Rs27,659.