There is no denying the fact that joblessness has wrecked the nerves of Pakistani youth who, despite being qualified and having degrees, are unable to find a job. Almost every day we see young graduate boys and girls, many of whom with master degrees, roaming about on roads desperately attempting to get hold a job. But wherever they go and whichever door they knock at, they get one response—No Vacancy.
There has been a ban on government employment for a long period. The situation of private sector in Pakistan is very decline able and the factories and mills are being closed due non-investment friendly policies of government and bad law and order situation in Pakistan. Thousands of government servants were given the golden shake-hand or discharged from their services.
Of course, some sectors like IT sector are growing and jobs have been created here, But the jobs lost have been in the public sector where there is job security and unions are strong and the jobs that are being created are in private sector, where there is no job security and unions are either non-existent or weak. This means that their is job insecurity here. So, people feel that new jobs that are being created are not as good as the old ones that are being lost.
In bigger and multinational organizations, one will get one’s dues and observance pay when one leaves, but in smaller organizations, even that is not definite. Again many jobs in the private sector are contractual in nature. Though salaries are usually higher in such jobs, employment is unstable, because the job is gone when the contract period is up. Of course, it may be renewed, but then it might not. Jobs in most developed countries are like this, in the private sector with no permanence and often on a contract basis. But there the people are sure that they will get another job, if they lose the old one. So, though there is no job security, there is employment security.Even if worst comes to worst and someone does not find a job, there is always the unemployment allowance doled out by the government to fall back on.
In Pakistan, the types of jobs being created are very different from the jobs being lost. For one thing, they are mostly in the services sector and manufacture, banking, teaching and medical professionals who lose their jobs, may not be qualified or able to undertake these. The areas that are booming are IT, insurance, advertising, textile, public relations, mass media, retailing, communications and software and these need different and specialized skills. Many of these need different and specialized skills. Many of these jobs are contractual or are undertaken on a freelance or commission basis.
The inability of people to get a new job when they lose their old one, means that job insecurity means employment insecurity. And employment insecurity leads to economic insecurity in people. This is the situation in Pakistan today.
HOW TO REDUCE UNEMPLOYMENT
What are the remedies? We can reduce unemployment and eliminate it altogether by adopting following methods.
1-Total mobilization of indigenous resources.
2-Encouraging saving and reducing unnecessary spending on marriages and birthday parties.
3-Gradual reliance on country’s own resources.
4-Gradual assimilation of agriculture produce in indigenous industrial channel.
5-Introduction of easy and without interest self employment schemes.
6-Providing one window operation to the investors.
7-Introduction of cottage industry to eliminate underemployment and to prevent large scale migration from contraries to towns.
8-Decrease in imports of all kinds of goods, particularly those which are being produced or which can be produced at home.
9-Promoting exports of unconventional items like toys, carpets and ready made garments.
10-Ensuring a higher growth rate for the economy.
11-Gradual increase in vocational institutions.
But, most of all, the perception of the Pakistani worker has to be change. He must realize that there are no longer lifetime jobs and that a causal, contractual or non-permanent job is not necessarily a bad one. Private sector job mean higher salaries, but are performance linked and employees should find this acceptable and even attractive.
