ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani workforce is estimated to grow approximately by 2.0 percent in 2016-17, largely because of the projected population growth rate of 1.9 percent and the increase in the participation rate. The official sources also indicated on Thursday that at least 1.26 million jobs would be additionally required to absorb the growing workforce
Media sources were told that the GDP growth target for 2016-17 has been set at 5.7 percent and the prevailing employment elasticity remains at 0.46, therefore, it is being expected that the given GDP growth would not only absorb the growing labour force but also clear some portion of the backlog. They added that policy initiatives, which included the enhancement of development programmes, an increased focus on the technical training and skills development, and the opportunities for generating productive employment through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as well as the energy projects would all ensure smooth functioning of the labour market in 2016-17.
The sources believed that after the acquisition of stabilisation, the government was now embarking on its high growth strategy to create higher employment opportunities.
“Enhanced size of Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and investment in the CPEC would increase GDP growth by 5.7 percent and also generate employment”, they remarked. The sources also added that “energy is the lifeline of an economy and plays a vital role to sustain industrial, commercial and domestic activities. Because of the government’s concerted efforts 386MW of new capacity was added during 2015-16 and another 2,500MWwould be added this year. All this would ensure an uninterrupted supply of energy to industry and eventually improve the employment prospects for the economy.” The official sources said that under the CPEC, an inflow of financial resources of around $46 billion was expected which would break down to Rs. 800 billion per annum or 2.8 percent of the current GDP every year.
“This investment will spur economic activity and create around 2 million direct and indirect new jobs”, they remarked. It was further noted that under the Youth Business Loan Scheme, the over 10,000 young entrepreneurs in the age group of 21-45 years were being provided subsidised financing worth Rs 10.5 billion through designated financial institutions. The youths, they said, were not only creating employment for themselves by establishing their own businesses but also creating employment opportunities for others.
Similarly, the Interest-Free Loan Scheme introduced by the government has provided an option to the youth to set up their enterprises by utilising interest-free loan facilities. For this scheme, an amount of Rs 3.5 billion has been allocated, out of which more than 90 percent amount has already been disbursed in the form of 132,000 loans with 100 percent recovery rate. The sources added that about 60 per cent beneficiaries were females.
They informed that about 250 centres had opened across Pakistan for providing advisory services to the beneficiaries while loans were being administrated through Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) and have been best utilised not only for employment generation but also the social uplifting of the society.
Regarding overseas employment, they said that during the last three years a significant increase has been seen in overseas employment. During this period, they said that about 2.3 million Pakistani workers went abroad for seeking jobs. In the year 2012-13, about 6,22,714 workers went abroad while in 2014-15, about 9,46,571 workers emigrated for employment. The official sources further informed that about 1,105,741 workers went to Saudi-Arabia, 135375 to Oman; 950,742 to UAE;
27,855 to Bahrain; 42,824 to Malaysia and 30,902 workers went to Qatar. “If these workers had not gone abroad, the unemployment rate would have been 7.4 percent instead of 5.94 percent. About eight million Pakistanis were living and working abroad”, they remarked.
However, they observed that although overseas employment for Pakistani workers was encouraging so far, yet the persistent fall in oil prices could pose a new challenge in the shape of decline in labour demand in Gulf countries. They said that the overseas employment issue calls for a vibrant and comprehensive Human Resources Development (HRD) programme to
produce a highly skilled manpower in non-traditional trades and a forward-looking overseas employment promotion policy to hunt job opportunities in non-oil exporting countries. Regarding skill development, they said that nature and quality of skill sets of an economy were the major determinants of its competitiveness and quality of life of its people.
The skill development and decent jobs, they said, therefore, have the central place in the inclusive growth strategy. The sources added that “skill development not only increase productivity, it also enhances the labour force participation rate. Further, the labour market efficiency will be enhanced through the labour market reforms, sector-specific workforce development, increased women participation in labour force and provision of local opportunities to avoid brain drain”.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), they said, has far-reaching impacts on the national economy as it was offering a unique opportunity to effectively harness the demographic dividend.
Moreover, they said the regional demand of the skilled workforce offers another opportunity to increase the inflow of foreign remittances. To realise this objective, they said that the National Technical Vocational Commission (NAVTTC) and National Training Bureau (NTB) were imparting training in areas including; hospitality, agriculture, (dairy and animal nutrition management), horticulture, construction, information technology and telecommunications, skill for women, light engineering, paramedics, services, etc.
Furthermore, they said that the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development makes policies for employment promotion abroad takes measures for the welfare of the Pakistani emigrants and their dependents in Pakistan, and coordinates with the provincial governments to align national labour laws with Pakistan’s international obligations of labour standards.