International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Friday launched the first ever provincial employment trends report, providing a broad assessment of the labour market situation in Punjab.
The report titled ‘The Punjab Employment Trends Report 2013’ revealed that the economically active population or labour force in the province was 34.36 million in 2010-11, up from 30.67 million in 2007-08, showing an annual average growth of 4 percent during the three-year period.
Only 9.46 million females were in the labour force compared to 24.9 million males in 2010-11. Almost 65 percent of the total population fell under working age from rural areas of Punjab, whereas more than 70 percent of the non-agricultural employment in the province fell under the informal sector, said a news release.
Sharing their remarks, experts said by analysing labour markets intensively, decision makers could reduce unemployment, support vulnerable workers, promote youth development, eliminate wastage and develop responsive education and training systems.
The Punjab government is fully dedicated to labour welfare and will ensure that a pool of talented workforce is created through human resource development, which is only possible if future market needs are assessed when designing interventions, the report said.
Speaking on the occasion, ILO Country Director Francesco d’ Ovidio said most of the youth had little or no vocational and life skills, adding that there was a need to provide for their health, education, and livelihood, and to engage them in activities which converted their latent energy into positive outcomes for their family, community, state and global community.
He said three key areas required attention from relevant stakeholders that included youth employment, gender gaps in employment and adult training. He also reassured ILO’s commitment to provide technical assistance to achieve shared goals of decent work for all.
Speaking on the occasion, Punjab Labour Secretary Capt (r) Muhammad Yousaf acknowledged the need for updated labour market information for effective employment policies.
Ahmed Husnain, representative, Employers Federation of
Pakistan said the industry needed to be closely engaged in
analysing market trends so that informed decisions were made on upgrading employees’ skills.
A representative from Pakistan Workers Federation stressed the importance of labour market trends that can help job seekers find decent work opportunities and the power to negotiate decent wages that commensurate their skills levels and job requirement.
