The unemployment rate has decreased from 5.9 percent in 2014-15 to 2.79 percent in 2017-18, while the highest unemployment rate of 15.17 percent has been recorded in females as compared to 10.5 percent for male, states the Economic Survey 2018-19. According to Labour Force Survey 2017-18, the youth unemployment rate is even higher as compared to the average unemployment rate.
According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2018-19, the female participation in the labour market has decreased with the passage of time from 15.8 percent in 2014-15 to 14.5 percent in 2017-18. The Labour Force Survey 2017-18 indicates that women are concentrated in agriculture with a share of 67 percent, while in manufacturing they have a share of 16 percent and in community and personal services they have a share of 14.6 percent. In the case of occupational groups, women are mostly working as skilled agricultural workers, 55 percent, elementary/unskilled workers, 18 percent, and craft and related trade workers, 14 percent, it maintained. However, the share of agriculture-related employment has declined from more than 48.42 percent in 1999-2000 to 38.5 percent by 2017-18. This shows almost 10 percentage points decline.
The employment ratio has increased from 34.25 percent in 1999-2000 to 37.6 percent in 2017-18 as this sector provides jobs which are diverse in nature such as unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and high skilled, which includes doctors, engineers, advocates, builders and financial consultants. In these sectors the total participation rate has increased.
The share of employment in industry sector (manufacturing and construction) has increased from 17.33 percent in 1999-2000 to 23.89 percent in 2017-18. The unemployment situation in the region is comparatively better than Pakistan except in Iran. The unemployment statistics show that Pakistan's unemployment rate of 5.79 percent is higher than that of India (2.6 percent), Bangladesh (4.3 percent), and Sri-Lanka (4.4 percent).
The total population of Pakistan increased by 57 per cent (excluding Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan), with an average annual growth rate of 2.4 percent during 1998-2017, as recorded in the 6th National Population and Housing Census which was held in Pakistan after a lapse of about 19 years.
According to the Economic Survey, the government is focused to generate more job opportunities for the youth; the government has launched a new programme -Kamyab Jawan Programme. Under this programme, the National Bank of Pakistan, Bank of Punjab and Bank of Khyber will provide low-cost loans to the youth (between 21 - 45 years) for establishing small businesses enterprises. These loans will be classified into three tiers.
The early harvest projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) have created more than 75,000 direct jobs and 200,000 allied jobs for Pakistanis while the midterm and long projects under the CPEC are poised to create more than 700,000 employment opportunities in the country. An amount of Rs 510.919 million has been allocated for population welfare programme in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, AJK, and merged areas.
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