Jobs cut in Dubai: returning workers to raise unemployment ratio

A large number of Pakistani workers are constrained to return home from Dubai on account of cut in number of jobs there in the wake of global financial crisis that has badly hit the construction industry in the Arab commercial centre. The return of unemployed overseas to Pakistan is feared to increase unemployment ratio further.
Ahmed Siddiqui, administrator, School Business Studies, said the returnees would definitely increase the unemployment ratio, and termed it as a challenging task for the government to absorb them, productively. He said he expected that the unemployment ratio would escalate to 30 percent further, and urged the government to take positive measures in this regard.
Moreover, he said, the influx of unemployed returnees would create negative impact on remittances, which at present have reduced by 1.58 percent during last seven months, and added that the remittances would further be slashed by one percent. He said that the influx of overseas Pakistani would hit hard the industrial production because people would fear of depriving purchasing power and they would be reluctant to part with their cash, which would ultimately result in massive cut in jobs.
Pakistans economy is growing at its slowest pace, prompting the central bank to reduce interest rates to cater the demand of consumers and firms aimed at facilitating them at maximum.
Rising unemployment will increase pressure on the government and may also push it to take new stimulus measures, he said. Siddiqui suggested to the government to provide relaxation in taxes, besides minimising unnecessary expenditures to stabilise the shrinking economy.
Dr Shahid Hasan Siddiqui, a well-known economist, was optimistic in this gloomy situation. He said that the central bank would follow the global trend, and would reduce discount rate up to 14 percent by September.
People returning from Dubai are in low scale category and are unskilled workers. Hence, a striking decline would not be observed in the remittances, he added. He dispelled the perception that global recession had badly hit the countrys economy, saying that poor decisions and unfriendly business policies were playing major role to abate business activities.
He stressed the need to commence micro financing by the central bank to accommodate all overseas Pakistanis returning from Dubai, and added that the government has not enough resources to absorb all of them. Therefore, it is an urgent need to start micro financing for them.