ISLAMABAD, June 11: The labour market in Pakistan demonstrates a lower labour force participation rate against other developing countries, says the Economic Survey 2006-07. It said that the country’s female labour participation rate was the lowest in South Asia.

According to the survey, the national working-age population was about 105.37 million, 67.3 per cent of the total population of 156.77million. However, a significant number was not a part of the economically-active population, including housewives, students, handicapped and senior citizens, it said.

“The labour market in Pakistan demonstrates a lower labour force participation rate as compared to its competitors,” stated the survey.

Economically-active population is defined as the portion of population that is either employed or looking for work, also referred to as ‘labour force’.

The labour force participation rate is measured on the basis of Crude Activity Rate and Refined Activity Rate. The former is the percentage of the labour force in the total population while the latter is the percentage of the labour force in the p opulation of people 10 years of age and above.

The labour force participation rate in Pakistan has been in the range of 28.6 to 32.3 per cent over a decade. Even the percentage of labour force in the population of persons of 10 years or above is low and hovered around the 43 per cent mark for well over a decade. The crude activity rate, which stayed roughly constant since 1980, started to rise in the past few years – from 29.6 per cent in 2001-02 to 32.3 per cent in 2005-06, the survey said.

The percentage of labour force in the population of 10 years and above has also started to increase from 43.3 per cent in 2001-02 to 46 per cent in 2006-07, it said.

According to the Economic Survey 2006-07, participation rates were highest in Punjab and lowest in the NWFP.

The participation for female labour force in Pakistan is lowest in South Asia despite increasing to 18.9 per cent in 2005-06 from 15.9 per cent in 2003-04. The South Asian female participation rate is 35-50 per cent.