Unemployment curse

Soaring unemployment is no news, but what makes it horrendous is that more than 7.1% of the populace in the country is jobless. This is one of the highest plummeting statistics recorded in 21 years, and goes on to confirm that 'constrained' economic growth is primarily responsible for this societal nuisance. The federal minister for planning was quick to lay the blame on climate change and IMF's pressure tactics, and he is on the spot to a great extent. Floods, inclement weather and low agrarian productivity are ingredients behind a stunted progress in the economy, coupled with dipping exports and deindustrialization.

A new Labour Force survey has revealed that more than a million degree-holders are out of job, and belong to the age group of 15 to 29. This is a critical lacunae in our growth paradigm that eventually impacts social mobility as well as the confidence of the youth in the future of the country. Likewise, the statistics say that out of the total 5.9 million unemployed people, 4.6 million, or 77.5%, are literate.

The puzzle gets more complicated as the youth lacks opportunities for going into civil service, either by virtue of their substandard education or a sense of parochialism prevalent in the edifice of the state. And, as the services industry constitutes the biggest employer, there is enough competition and people one way or the other find themselves in 'structural' unemployment, with most of them relying on part-time jobs.

The outcome of the report that K-P has the highest unemployed population followed by Punjab, the most populous province, deserves some astute introspection. With K-P being a theatre of terrorism and revulsion, this unemployment curse is a threat to national security as well. So is with Punjab where simmering unrest can fracture national cohesion.

It is irksome, nonetheless, to note that of the 180 million working-age population, 118 million are "unpaid" employees engaged in minor jobs. If stringent IMF conditionalities are responsible for this, the government and policymakers are to be blamed equally.