WHILE there precious few public-sector employment opportunities in the country for the educated youth, extreme exploi-tative practices by the private sector are adding to their misery. The corporate sector does provide opportunities, but is notorious for underpaying working students. A vast majority of corporate offices, especially call centres and digital agencies, heavily rely on university students to drive their daily operations.

However, a deeply unfair wage disparity exists where students are paid significantly less than their graduated colleagues despite the fact that they carry out the same responsibilities, work identical shifts and have to meet the same performance metrics.

Corporate human resource departments routinely justify this salary discrimination under the guise of an incomplete degree or lack of experience. This is a deeply flawed argument. If an employee is delivering the exact output required for a role, their academic status should never be used as leverage to underpay them.

This corporate exploitation severely burdens students who are working tire-lessly to fund their own escalating tuition fee amid high inflation.

This practice is a clear violation of basic labour ethics. Corporate organisations must enforce a strict policy of equal pay for equal work, regardless of an employee’s enrolment status. The relevant govern-ment departments should regulate wage structures and penalise organisations that treat students as cheap, dispensable labour.

Syeda Narmeen Kamal
Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2026