The Employers' Federation of Pakistan (EFP) believes that labour constitute one of the most important elements for the economic development and progress of the country. The workers, therefore, must be assured of reasonable and equitable treatment with a stake and status in social order. According to the survey of 2003-04, 30.41 percent of our total population or 45.23 million people are in the labour force in Pakistan. Of this 41.75 million are employed while 3.48 million, are unemployed.
Moreover only 16 percent of the unemployed labour force have completed 10 years of schooling. Another aspect of the unemployed status is that the unemployment in female is double than that of male workers.
The EFP has been involved in the preparation of the 5th Five Years Plan 2005-10 of the Government of Pakistan. In the report of the Sub-Group on "Income Distribution and Employment", we have recommended a number of measures to reduce unemployment from 7.7 to 4 percent in 5 years time by generating 5.48 million additional jobs.
Moreover, we have recommended to reduce the gap between lowest 20 percent income group and the highest 20 percent. To attain these objectives it would be necessary to attract fresh investment, ensure effective and timely implementation of development projects, efficient delivery of services to the people enabling environment for growth and the SME's for employment generation, incentives to the private sector in promoting skill development, re-structuring of technical education and vocational training system for imparting need-oriented training for enhancing the productivity and employability of the work force.
The federation has also shown a positive approach towards amending the labour laws to make it acceptable to all stakeholders. The policy of EFP has always been to consider workers as partners to growth and productivity. We have, therefore, always encouraged our employers to respect social responsibility and enter into bilateral social dialogue. Such co-operation will help Pakistan to meet the challenges of globalisation.
The federation has also supported the government efforts in finalising the labour protection laws and labour inspection laws for achieving decent working conditions.
On this Labour Day I, on behalf of Employers' Federation of Pakistan, would like to emphasise to our elite workforce that creating a better industrial relations environment and improvement in human resources are the responsibilities to be shared by both the employers and workers to enjoy the fruit of success and prosperity.
(The writer is Ashraf W. Tabani President, Employers' Federation of Pakistan)