Daily Times

KARACHI: The unemployment rate in rural areas of the province is 2.3% lower than urban areas by 6.5 percent. Sindh stood at 4.2% percent lower than national average of 6 percent regarding the unemployment. This has been disclosed in a Budget Strategy Paper (BSP) document available with Daily Times.

The Sindh Finance Department’s Budget Strategy Paper highlighted that about 45.9881 million population in Sindh contributes 29.51 percent in national GDP growth, whereas rural Sindh contributes 35.9 percent.

According to BSP, the health sector has shown various challenges and inadequate supply of pure drinking water and sanitation services, which triggered spread of communicable diseases and not accomplishing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

As per reports, contribution in agriculture, industry and services sector towards Gross Provincial Product (GPP) of the province stands at 17 percent, 36 percent and 47 percent respectively, while Karachi itself generates 25 percent of the national GDP and about 42 percent of the value added in large scale manufacturing.

According to the document, Sindh province contributes 60 percent to the overall country with 65 percent in the sales tax, 84 percent in the custom duties, 51 percent in income tax and 35 percent in central excise duty.

Similarly, labour force in Sindh is estimated at 14 million including 11.84 million males and 2.15 million females, while labour force in rural and urban areas are estimated at 7.69 million and 6.3 million respectively.

Agriculture, despite its declining share, is the largest employer with 41 percent labour force in the province, while manufacturing sector employs 14 percent, wholesale and retail trade with 16 percent, construction 7.4 percent, and transport and storage with 5.68 percent.