LABOUR Force Survey annual report 2014-15 (last available) serves as the book of reference for whoever is curious to dig out the unemployment numbers in Pakistan. Released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Government of Pakistan, it dishes out numbers difficult to digest.

The first thing on the ‘table’ that catches the eye is the starting age of unemployment survey —age 10-14. Clearly there is no concept of ‘child labour’. But down the line, dazzling numbers make that a small matter. According to the survey, the rate of unemployment among the youth 20-24 years of age was 11pc; astonishingly equal to the unemployment rate of 11pc for people in the bracket of ripe old age of 65 and above. But since the survey does not explain what kind of ‘work’ it terms ‘employment’, the numbers may not be brushed aside.

Distribution by areas show that in the rural areas, 3.09pc youth is unemployed while in the urban sector, 10pc has no work. The survey sums up 32pc of total population as unemployed with 16pc female and 48pc male. If those figures were to be believed, every other man in the country is jobless.

Table-18 of the Labour Force Survey 2014-15 put the figure of unemployment rate of all provinces (ages 10 years and over) at 5.94pc with males without work at 4.98pc and female 8.97pc. It shows that 11pc of the youth between ages 20-24 are unemployed, which include male unemployment at 9.15pc and female at 16.35pc. In the rural areas 9.48pc youth is unemployed while in urban sector 14.09pc has no work. The Pakistan Economic Survey of the same year puts the unemployed rate at just 6pc. Although the two official figures coincide, there are no independent studies to confirm or contest the data.

But before we jump to that conclusion, let’s examine the definition of unemployment: “In Pakistan, the unemployment rate means the number of people actively looking for jobs as percentage of labour force”. It does not then include those educated youth who sit and wait at home after posting resumes with attached degrees or the hungry labourer who does not strike the road and move from shop to shop, begging for work.

However, there still is hope in the air. It is to be assumed that the recent spate of expansions and diversification by existing mills and businesses and up-and-coming industrialisation in the aftermath of CPEC, the youth aged 20-25 years who are waiting and watching and praying for a job, would be able to find one. On the other hand, the government need not worry over the unemployment of men over the age of 65. With the prices of medicine and hospitalisation scaling new heights, the problem ought to resolve itself!

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2017