28th September 2021
Staff report
Data compiled by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) revealed that 24% of Pakistan’s educated population (those who have acquired an undergraduate or graduate degree) are currently unemployed. Furthermore, the date showed that nearly 40% of all women with undergraduate and graduate degrees are jobless.
The findings were presented to the Senate Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Special Initiatives under supervision of the Deputy Chair of the Senate, Saleem Mandviwalla, on Monday, September 27. The PIDE concluded that the unemployment rate stood at 16%, well above figures presented by the government.
However, the PIDE expressed concern regarding ‘hidden’ people, that is, individuals who enroll for higher studies such as M.Phil degrees after failing to find employment. The study held that some 80% of unemployed educated people enrolled themselves due to unemployment. However, due to the high rate of unemployment, people with higher education degrees were not any more successful in landing jobs. To explain the extent of the crisis, the PIDE told the Committee that some 1.5 million applications were received for the position of an orderly in a high court, some of them from M.Phil degree holders.
When asked for the exact number of education persons in Pakistan, the PIDE provided that there were no official statistics to rely on as no such research on this matter has been conducted on the official level. What numbers are available have been collated by international studies and research, the Committee was informed.
The PIDE proposed a set of reforms regarding incentives and costs for civil servants, as well as granting licenses to hawkers to create 20 to 30 million job opportunities.
