Youth unemployment ratio in PTI govt increased

ISLAMABAD: Who was affected the most due to unemployment during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government? 

To an utter surprise for many — the Pakistani youth who idolized Imran Khan as their saviour has suffered the most as the unemployment ratio among youth was almost double than the overall unemployment rate. The youth unemployment ratio was even higher than the previous regime, reveals the Economic Survey of Pakistan.

The Economic Survey of Pakistan measures the performance of the government for the outgoing fiscal year and shows that the prevalence of unemployment among youth is much higher than the overall unemployment rate in the country. Interestingly, the employment to population ratio in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the lowest among all four provinces during the fiscal year 2021-22.

According to the Labour Force Survey 2020-21, the overall unemployment rate is 6.3 percent with the prevalence of a higher unemployment rate, 12.2 percent among youth ranging 20-24 years of age, compared with 11.8 percent in 2018-19. “Youth unemployment rate isquite high as compared to the average unemployment rate,” shows the Economic Survey of Pakistan.

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2020-21 shows that the overall employment to population ratio is 42.1 percent and this ratio is higher in male (64.1 percent) as compared to females (19.4 percent). The province-wise comparison also shows the same pattern. In Punjab employment to population ratio is 44.2 percent, followed by Sindh (42.1 percent), Balochistan (38.6 percent) and KP (36 percent), respectively.

Being a major contributor to the GDP agriculture sector plays an important role in the development of the economy but during the PTI government, the employment in the agriculture sector has also declined. According to the Labour Force Survey 2020-21, the share of employment in the agriculture sector decreased from 39.2 percent in 2018-19 to 37.4 percent in 2020-21. This sector is the key source of supply of raw materials to the other sectors of the economy, especially the industrial sector. “The significant share of employment from the agriculture sector is shifted to industry and services sector due to technological transformation. The services sector is the largest growing sector of the economy and the share of employment in the services sector is 37.2 percent in 2020-21,” reads the Economic Survey of Pakistan.

“The construction and manufacturing sectors are considered major sources of the economic growth and development. Expansion of these sectors can generate millions of jobs for an unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workforce. Further, these sectors also play an important role in generating income in formal and informal sectors. The share of employment in the construction sector has increased from 8.0 percent in 2018-19 to 9.5 percent in 2020-21. This increase shows that job opportunities are being created in the country. The wholesale and retail trade sector has shown 14.4 percent employment in 2020-21. The employment level in transport/storage & communication remained the same in the period under review and the share of employment in community/social & personal service sectors increased from 14.9 percent in 2018-19 to 16.0 percent in 2020-21,” the document shows.

The Economic Survey of Pakistan further reveals that the labour force has increased from 65.5 million in 2017-18 to 71.76 million in 2020-21 and the number of employed persons increased from 61.71 million to 67.25 million during the same period. The unemployment rate slightly decreased from 6.9 percent in 2018-19 to 6.3 percent in 2020-21. This shows that 4.51 million people from the labour force could not get a job in FY2021.