Labour force: ‘Home-based workers should be recognised’

At least 11% of the total workforce is engaged in the informal sector.

LAHORE:

Home-based women workers are contributing a significant amount of foreign exchange to strengthen the economy of the country by producing value added products and the government should recognise them as an important part of the informal sector, stated the Executive Director of HomeNet Pakistan Ume Laila Azhar.

During a briefing on the three-day consultation meeting of member-based HomeNet organisations here on Thursday, Azhar said that in Pakistan, 11 to 13 per cent of the total workforce is engaged in the informal sector to produced value added products.

She said that the government has no recorded data on home-based women workers and it is need of the hour that efforts should be made to include these workers in the main stream for their development at national level.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2011.