Growth strategy fails to curb unemployment

ISLAMABAD: The prevailing growth strategy has failed to absorb millions of unemployed people and, therefore, the government should adopt an inclusive growth strategy to create new jobs and reduce poverty, said Zahid Maqbool, President of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI).

In a statement issued on Saturday, Maqbool said that the Economic Survey of Pakistan shows positive growth in all three major sectors of the economy, ie manufacturing, agriculture and services, but this growth could not create proper employment opportunities, especially for low-skilled, semi-skilled, illiterate and poor people.

He said this phenomenon has aggravated sufferings of the poor segments of society, adding if growth does not produce jobs, its main purpose of fostering sustainable development and alleviating poverty will eventually be defeated.

Accordingly, there is a dire need for a paradigm shift from a jobless growth to an inclusive growth where everybody should enjoy the fruits of economic progress and income gaps do not widen between different segments, he stressed.

Maqbool said that growth models of Japan, Korea and China are good examples of inclusive growth where income gap did not widen during the process of economic development.

He said during their initial stages of development, these countries focused on promoting labour-intensive industries, which helped them reduce unemployment and Pakistan could also cope with the rising unemployment by adopting a similar growth pattern.

He urged economic managers of the country to make job creation a key ingredient of their economic and social policies because the country cannot achieve sustainable growth without broadening inclusiveness.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2010.