Economic slowdown triggers massive unemployment

Millions of jobs in formal or informal sectors of the economy across the country have been lost due to a massive decline in industrial production so far this fiscal year. The ongoing restrictions on the import of raw materials, the foreign exchange crisis and rising costs caused by surging power and gas bills have severely hampered production activities. In four industrial sectors of Karachi and the countrywide auto vending units, stakeholders claimed that “over 500,000 people have faced joblessness.” However, an official from the Sindh government’s Directorate of Manpower Labour Human Resource, who asked not to be named, said that the businessmen are exaggerating the figures. “I think joblessness in the industrial sector is in the range of 15-20pc,” he said, attributing the job crisis to various reasons, including the exchange rate problems. When one of the analysts/report contributors at the Bureau of Statistics, Planning and Development Department of the Sindh government was approached for comment on unemployment in industries, he suggested checking the Bureau’s Monthly Industrial Production and Employment Survey (MIPE) of February. As per MIPE, the total number of employees in 18 categories of industries in February stood at 202,663 as compared to 221,163 in February 2022. Similarly, production workers in the above categories of industries in February 2023 plunged to 151,194 from 164,791 in February 2022.