Labour setback

Due to the government's comparatively brief lockdown of the country, after it was hit by the coronavirus pandemic in March last year, there seems to have been a V-shaped curve in the number of job losses suffered by people in the country. As part of a plan to digitalize the system in Pakistan, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics carried out a survey on the impact of the virus on people in the country, including their income levels, employment, livelihoods, and food security. Some of these findings have been released by the Planning Commission, and show that 20.7 million people in the country were affected by the job losses suffered as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country. However, after July, as lockdowns were eased and infections decreased, over 33 percent were able to return to work; Pakistan's workforce is made up of 55 million people in total.

What is significant, however, is that 3.2 percent of those who were rendered jobless as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic that is sweeping across the world and creating a similar impact were not able to find work or resume duties. It seems they may have lost their jobs for a far longer period of time or even permanently. At the same time, there is also concern that the new wave of the pandemic which is now hitting the country, may cause a further loss of jobs and further suffering for people who are made jobless once again. The full figures collected by the Planning Commission will reveal if this appears to be happening. For now, we have only partial lockdowns in the country. The plan devised by the PBS and compiled by the Planning Commission also includes a programme to monitor prices and compare those given by district administrations, provincial governments and the National Price Monitoring Committee. This could have a useful impact in determining what the precise cost of a particular commodity is and how people are able to manage if there's a rise in prices, or inflation of any kind.

Pakistan must plan for the coming year when there is expected to be a downturn in the economy with a fall in the growth rate and consequences for many who form a part of the workforce. The survey is a positive step in determining the impact of the pandemic on people and also establishing what the future may hold. We hope that other results from the survey will continue to be released so that a full picture can be developed and assessed by experts to help devise policies which can keep inflation low, unemployment low and the ability to find jobs high for the future.