A recent survey by Gallup Pakistan reveals, more than seventeen million people could become unemployed in the future amid the COVID-19 crisis.
The economy is already suffering with daily wagers losing their jobs and business community suffering loses amid the state induced lockdown. The unemployment rate is predicted to surge to a whopping 28 per cent according to the survey.
The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan claims that this has been done to support the daily wagers and the business community. Unfortunately, the cases have risen two folds since the ease and has reached almost eighty thousand with death toll reaching almost two thousand.
The Federal Minister for Planning and Development, Asad Umar, predicted that around 18 million people might lose their jobs as a result of lockdowns.
South Asia is home to over 1.8 billion people and houses half of the world’s impoverished communities. The region has the potential to become the factory of the world next to China as the world is turning back to China. But uncertainty remains how the region will overcome the upcoming post-pandemic recession and will feed the workforce to remain alive to take over the global labor market. Nonetheless, some employers are taking advantage of pandemic period by soaring the labor oppression which is not a humanistic approach and will lead to the trust-crisis and labor-unrest in the region.
That said, South Asian leaders should work together to build the region during the pandemic and post-pandemic recession.