DARK and dreary. That is the world of the unemployed, especially of the educated unemployed. But the statement does need a qualifying clause: it is dark and dreary for a few who are not enterprising enough to explore the options available in the modern economy. Unemployment is leading to self-employment and it is working wonders for many a household in urban Pakistan.

But, first, let’s take a look at the conventional job market. There are enough young people holding MBAs and degrees in Humanities and Social Sciences to fill at least an economy thrice the size of Pakistan’s. So, life is tough for those who have in their minds a single path to success, says a Human Resource consultant working for a string of mid-sized organisations. He points out that the “gender phenomenon” was a “sort of saving grace” as the majority with relevant degrees “happen to be girls and most of them are not interested in full-time careers” which, according to him, leaves a little more space for the boys. It is because of the gender-related quote that he requested anonymity!

Things are not any different in a field as specialised as, say, Architecture. The current gender composition, as revealed by Dr. Noman Ahmed, who heads the department at the NED University, stands at 15pc boys and 85pc girls. In a batch of 55, it means eight boys and 47 girls. Five years ago, it was 5pc versus 95pc; 3 boys and 52 girls!

There were more jobs than people willing to take them, he recalls, because most of the girls opted for one reason or the other to stay away from the job market, and the boys found the starting monthly salary to be too low at Rs10,000.

Today, it is twice as much, and a few more girls have started to at least take up office-based positions. The bottom line, however, remains pretty much the same; more jobs than people willing to take them up.

An additional factor in this regard, he says, is the brain drain. Those having spent two, three years in the profession tend to either take up employment in the Gulf and Middle East region or immigrate; Australia and Canada being the destinations of choice.

Frustrated by low salaries and shrinking opportunities in various segments of the corporate domain, the enterprising young are heading in newer directions to make a living. And they are quite happy about the decisions they made. Wajahat Syed, for instance, was doing content writing for websites till about three years ago. He learned the intricacies and dynamics of Digital Marketing during his exposure to the world of start-ups, and when he suffered at the hands of the umpteenth bubble-burst, he decided to do something of his own. With an investment of less than Rs30,000, he put up a website and a social media page, and a month later he was making twice as much as he was making in employment. And he is not looking back.

At the other end of the spectrum, Sharafat Shah, a graduate with a sketchy employment history in his late 20s, has opted out of the market to be part of the car-sharing phenomenon that has been in vogue for a few years now. He started off as a driver, getting Rs15,000 plus the incentives related to the hours he spent on the road and the number of rides he catered to. His overall income was around Rs30,000.

Having learnt the tricks of the trade, he started looking for a financier to do the same thing as a partner. Soon enough he found one who got him a car through bank lease, and his earnings shot up to a minimum of Rs45,000. He is saving hard and has succeeded in raising some quick money through what is generally called ‘beesies’ or ‘committees’ in local parlance, and hopes to have a car of his own by the end of the year. All things remaining unchanged, he is dead sure of a net income in the vicinity of six digits against 12 hours of work in the luxury of an airconditioned car.

At another tier, Waqas, who started off with a leased car with the help of his savings generated through employment, is now managing a fleet of six cars financed by various individuals to whom he hands over a monthly rental of Rs25,000 each, and makes just about that much for himself per unit; an income of Rs150,000 while sitting at home and monitoring the movement of his drivers on the cell phone. Life was never this good, he says.

Moving on, women operating out of middle class households are big time into selling lawn and embroidered suits that are basically copies of designer stuff. Word of mouth does the trick here, and it has done that so well that Faaria has in fact hired two riders to take the load to potential buyers around the city. And the riders remain busy for longer than you think. When it comes to enterprise, it certainly has no gender bias.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2017

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