KARACHI, July 4: A recent survey has found unemployment ratio in Karachi men aged between 15 and 24 years at 33 per cent and it is 26 per cent in rest of Sindh. Total unemployment ratio of men and women of the same age group has been calculated at 32 per cent in Karachi and 26 per cent in rest of Sindh. A rough estimate shows that about 1.3 million young men and women are roaming about in the streets of Karachi looking for jobs while as many as 1.5 million young men and women in the rural areas are without any job.

Almost 50 per cent of Sindh’s population of 10 years and above age is illiterate while two out of five children of 5 to 9 years of age were enrolled in the primary school during the year 2002-03. About one in six children (15 per cent) of 10 to 12 years age was enrolled in middle school. With 24 per cent Karachi has the highest number of middle school enrolment.

A district based Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) was carried out in Sindh from October 2003 to January 2004 to collect information and data on key social and economic indicators in the province. The representative multistage cluster sample of 23,784 households in all 16 districts then in Sindh was drawn up by the Federal Bureau of Statistics. These also included each of the 18 towns in Karachi with 9,324 households. It is said to be the biggest ever survey done in the province which sought information on literacy and education, cost of education, water and sanitation, infant mortality, nutrition, healthcare, child labour and unemployment.

Unemployment in the MISC survey follows the definition of the Labour Force Survey which is part of the active labour force, unemployed and seeking employment. The active labour force is government and semi-government employees, private employees, self-employed, labourers and agriculture workers.

Four of every 10 children (40 per cent) of aged less than five years are malnourished reflecting the acute poverty in both urban and rural areas of the province. One child out of every five in Sindh die before fifth birthday and about 4,000 women die every year in pregnancy, childbirth or within six weeks after the birth. Only one-third women or 31 per cent married women were found to have some awareness about the HIV/AIDS.

Only 58 per cent of the households in rural areas of Sindh were having electricity, four gas connections, two telephones, 18 water connections, 2 cable and satellite facility, 6 refrigerators, 9 washing machines, 62 watches and clocks, 24 radios and 21 televisions.

The survey also estimated the value of assets of house, land and livestock. For Sindh the average house value was Rs190,000, land

value Rs130,000 and livestock Rs20,000. The average value of house was highest in Karachi at Rs430,000 and lowest in Tharparkar at Rs40,000.

The average education cost in Sindh has been estimated at Rs320 a month. It is Rs430 a month in urban areas and Rs180 a month in rural areas.

In government schools, the average cost is Rs200 while for private schools the average cost is three times more at Rs600. Despite the government’s policy for not charging school fees

in government schools, the MICS surveyors found that 5 per cent of children were paying fees mainly in secondary schools.

As many as 87 per cent of the households surveyed were getting water from the improved supply system but it was not necessarily clean and hygienic. Eight of the 16 districts have more than 90 per cent households with adequate access to improved water supply. As many as 61 per cent of households have adequate sanitary toilet facility.