3.58m people jobless in country: Ministry of Labour
ISLAMABAD, June 16 2005: Some 48,000 postgraduates and 186,000 graduates form part of the 3.58 million jobless people in the country. This was revealed before the National Assembly by ministry of labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis in response to questions by MNAs Maulana Ahmad Ghafoor Ghawas and Yasmeen Rehman.
The house was informed that unemployment had increased in the country during 2005 and the total number of jobless unemployed people now stood at 3.58 million. During 2004, the number of unemployed people was 3.51 million while the corresponding figures for 2003 showed there were 3.60 million jobless people.
The ministry in a written response placed before the house said the government was taking a number of steps for providing jobs to graduates and postgraduates, including accelerating economic growth, filling up vacant posts in government departments, self-employment through the SME Bank, enhancing overseas employment and development of the IT and Telecom Sectors. Moreover, the government through the Higher Education Commission had started subsistence allowance for unemployed postgraduates in the subjects of physics, chemistry, biology, pharmacy, mathematics, statistics, electronics, veterinary sciences and agriculture.
The subsistence figures ranged from Rs1,200 to Rs1,800 per month.
Explaining the reasons for increasing unemployment in the country, the ministry said high population growth, mismatch between demand and supply for manpower, shrinking of employment opportunities in the public sector, increasing capital intensity in all the major economic sectors and poor quality of skills were some of the factors responsible.
Source: Dawn
Date:6/16/2005
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