Rising unemployment ratio worries ICST

Islamabad: Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders on Sunday said unemployment is increasing across the country at a rapid pace due to an excessive focus of policymakers on economic development.

Economic development which cannot ensure social improvement is undesirable as it results in multiple problems damaging the society, it said. Our policymakers are too much focused on economic development while social development is not a priority which is undesirable, said Patron Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders Shahid Rasheed Butt. He said that tempering statistics about unemployment will never change the ground realities as millions of youth are seeking jobs with little success.

Shahid Rasheed Butt said that unemployment among women and postgraduates is more prevalent with the figure of later reaching twenty per cent. The migration from rural areas to urban centres has also created many problems leaving the infrastructure under pressure, he added.

The business leader said that according to the latest census the population of ten major cities has increased by almost seventy-five per cent which indicates the magnitude of migration. He demanded that the economic policies should be designed in a way that it also ensures social development otherwise it will damage the already fragmented society.