Pakistan's Unemployment Crisis Hits 21-Year High as Jobs Vanish

The 2025 Labour Force Survey paints a stark picture. Unemployment has climbed to 7.1 per cent, the highest level in 21 years. This figure alone should temper any triumphalism, yet it has largely been absent from official messaging. The cost of this oversight is not merely statistical. It is borne daily by individuals who are unable to find work, by households cutting back on essentials and by young people watching their aspirations shrink in an economy that cannot accommodate them, the article in The News International pointed out.

This crisis is not hidden from view. Policymakers need not commission elaborate studies to understand the depth of the problem. Social media platforms are flooded with appeals from ordinary citizens seeking employment, while the expanding gig economy offers a glimpse into how precarious work has become, it said.

In this context, the warning by World Bank President Ajay Banga that Pakistan must create up to 30 million jobs over the next decade should serve as a wake-up call rather than a talking point. Each year, roughly three million young people enter the labour market, bringing with them education, skills and expectations. Whether this youthful population becomes an asset or a liability depends entirely on the state's ability to generate meaningful employment. Without it, Pakistan risks not only domestic instability but also a continued haemorrhaging of talent, the article observed.

The record exodus of nearly 4,000 doctors in 2025 is a case in point. These professionals are not leaving out of whim, but because the economy offers them neither professional respect nor financial security. Even so-called market-competitive salaries often fail to meet the rising cost of living, making long-term retention increasingly difficult. Banga has correctly pointed to labour-intensive sectors such as primary healthcare, tourism and small-scale agriculture as areas with significant employment potential. These sectors can absorb large numbers of workers while delivering social value, but they require targeted support, investment and coherent policy direction. Without such backing, their capacity to generate jobs remains unrealised, and opportunities continue to be lost, the article contended.

Pakistan's reliance on the private sector to absorb its workforce further complicates matters. Recent developments suggest that this very sector is under severe strain. Who exactly benefits from macroeconomic stability when factories are closing, manufacturers are relocating abroad, and public-sector workers are being dismissed? Stability that exists only on balance sheets, while productive capacity erodes, is neither durable nor inclusive, the article added.

- IANS