ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has claimed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has created over 5.55 million jobs during the last three years.
“According to the recent International Labour Organization (ILO) survey, as many as 5.55 million new jobs were created in previous three years (calendar years, 2019, 2020, 2021) of the PTI government, while 5.7 million jobs were created during complete five years’ tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.
Most of the jobs were created in agriculture, industries and construction sectors. The PTI government is well on target to create 10 million jobs in five years as per its election manifesto,” the minister expressed these views while addressing a news conference at P-Block Secretariat on Friday.
He said that the PTI had promised to provide 10 million jobs to the people and we will reach close to the target with the continuation of current policies.
About the agriculture sector, the minister said that during the PML-N government some 520,000 people lost their jobs in the agriculture sector, while on the other hand, in three years of PTI, the government has created 1.42 million new jobs in this sector.
He said that the agriculture sector progressed in three years of the PTI government and there was record production in wheat, rice, maize, and others except cotton. He said that the PML-N government had increased only Rs100 in the price of 40kg wheat, while the PTI government has increased Rs900 on the same amount.
About industry sector, he said that the PTI government has provided opportunities of 2.42 million jobs in three years, while the PML-N government had provided 2.8 million jobs in five years to the people. He said that the textile industry which is witnessing expansion is facing shortage of workers.
About construction industry, the minister said that we also provide job opportunities in this sector by changing Pakistan State Bank Policy and giving loans to the people for construction of homes.
The minister said that the PTI government has increased average 62 percent more jobs during three years compared to the same period of the PML-N government.
He said that in addition, 1.1 million people went abroad for employment through the Bureau of Immigration.
The minister said that we have put the economy in the right direction.
Commenting on the results of local bodies elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the Minister for Planning said this shows that the people stand with Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Answering a question about politics, Asad Umar said that the PTI is one and a half times more than all political parties and Imran Khan is number one in popularity in every survey.
He said that our strategy is coherent till Sunday. He said it is understood that foreign powers say that Imran Khan’s foreign policy is independent while on the other hand they say that it is bad if the no-confidence resolution fails.
“We will go to Karachi and play the past clip of Asif Zardari in which he had said that the refugees are fugitives and they had fled. After that, my answer in the National Assembly will be played, then we will tell, we are not glass, we are steel, we are the children of immigrants, then we will fight elections, we will see who comes,” he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022