Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar Friday said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government was well on target to create 10 million jobs in five years as per commitment made in its election manifesto. He said in the recent International Labour Organization (ILO) survey, as many as 5.55 million new jobs were created in previous three years (calender years 2019, 2020, 2021) of the PTI government while some 5.7 million jobs were created during complete five years’ term of the PML-N government. “If the present policies and the direction set by the PTI government continued in coming years, I believe that we will go very near to the 10 million jobs by end of the year 2023,” he said in his press briefing here. The minister highlighted when Prime Minister Imran Khan announced its manifesto to create 10 million jobs, some of the media persons and the political leaders mimicked the PM’s claim terming it as impossible. However, he said the ILO survey had proved that the target was quite achievable in five years. The minister said during the PML-N government some 720,000 people lost their jobs in agriculture sector, on the other hand, in three years of PTI government, around 1.42 million new jobs were created in the sector. In industrial sector, he said that the PTI government created 2.404 million jobs in three years while during PML-N’s complete five years term only 2.08 million employment opportunities were created. The yearly increasing rate shows that on average, 62 percent more jobs were created during PTI government’s three years compared to same period of the PML-N government. In addition to these jobs, he said that during this period, 1.1 million people were given jobs abroad through the Bureau of Immigration. Asad Umar said for last many years, the economy was going down due to high external deficit. As the economic growth and the external deficit were inter-linked so it was difficult to make a sudden increase in the GDP growth. However, he said in a bid to create jobs along with increase the exports, the government focused fully on development of the export-oriented industrial sector, which not only created jobs, but also increased the country’s exports. The minister said that the agriculture growth witnessed unprecedented growth during recent years, which was never seen in decades. The most important thing is that the agriculture growers were now getting a handsome price of their produce due to surge in support price of various crops. He said the PTI government has increased the support price of Rs900 per 40 kg of wheat crop in three years against only Rs100 per 40 kg increase during the complete tenure of PML-N government. Due to reforms introduced by the government in industrial sector and introduction of the textile policy, the sector witnessed rapid growth, he said adding that billions of dollar worth of investment was brought to the textile sector producing millions of new jobs. Asad Umar explained that during the two years of COVID pandemic, the world’s economies plunged to new lows, but during that period some 3.2 million new jobs were created in the country due to the prudent policies of the incumbent government. Further, he added that the Prime Minister personally lead the reforms initiatives process in the country’s construction sector that resulted in drastic change in this sector. With respect to the current political situation in the country, the minister highlighted that the results of yesterday’s local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had determined the future direction of the country. He said the PTI had achieved landmark success in the LG elections. To a question, the minister said that Pakistan’s population is growing by 2.3 percent per year which meant the total population increased by 7 percent in three years, while the total jobs created by 9.6 percent during that period.