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Thursday April 25, 2024

Joblessness on the rise?

Citizens of Rawalpindi and Islamabad warmly welcome guests from Karachi and Lahore and discuss the present social and economic condition of the common man there. Such occasions for exchange of pleasantries are very often provided by those people who build houses for their own residence out of honestly earned money

By Zafar Alam Sarwar
May 04, 2015
Citizens of Rawalpindi and Islamabad warmly welcome guests from Karachi and Lahore and discuss the present social and economic condition of the common man there. Such occasions for exchange of pleasantries are very often provided by those people who build houses for their own residence out of honestly earned money and organise house warming party and ‘milad’.
Invitees can’t sit tight-lipped, nor without a smile, after evening prayer and before eating delicious chicken ‘pulao’ and sweet ‘kheer’. So, interesting gossip begins when one asks the other: How is your business? Has your son found a suitable job?
A government report revealed last year that unemployment rate in the country was estimated at 11.3 per cent for the age group 15-19 years during 2012-13. The age wise joblessness was also on the rise in early to early 30s (20 and 34 years). That means the average employment ratio has been more than 10 per cent compared to the overall projected unemployment rate of 6.2 per cent. Isn’t it a promising aspect of the situation?
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics prepared the worth-noting report after conducting a survey across the country including the twin cities. In all, about 35,500 households were surveyed in rural and urban areas. The report based on the survey said that joblessness edged up to 6.2 per cent during 2012-13 from 6 per cent a year ago.
Unbelievably, the number of the unemployed people rose by 330,000 to 3.73 million in that year. But one has to keep in mind now what the administration has been doing positively in various sectors for the last one year by launching new projects to accommodate the jobless youth.
Many at the house warming party in a sector of the Islamabad Capital Territory the other day rightly insisted that when the total number of the employed increases to 56.01 million in 2012-13 from 53.8 million why should it not go higher in the very near future? Here’s a point worth thinking about.
Going by opinion of people from various walks of life, one can say the exercise of the administration will be eventually fruitful for the youth.
zasarwar@hotmail.com