Bad days ahead for Pakistani society unless…
The working class suffers from the double whammy of increasing unemployment and rising prices of commodities of daily use. That trade unions have weakened over the years is a bad omen for the system.
Ten years of power shortages have led to the partial or complete closure of thousands of production units particular in the textile sector which employs about 30 pc of industrial labour. Economic crunch in the Middle East and the rise of anti–immigrant sentiment in the West have led to the return of tens of thousands of Pakistanis from abroad adding to the already sufficient pool of the unemployed The IMF projects an increase in unemployment ratio from the current 6 pc to 6.1 pc in the next fiscal year. Pakistan needs a growth rate of 7-8 pc on a sustained basis to absorb the increasing number of jobless and clear the backlog.
Ahsan Iqbal’s promise that the CPEC will create 85,000 jobs for youths is no more than a pie in the sky. The government has no massive manpower training programme. The planners have no idea regarding what kind jobs would be needed in next ten years. The absence of trained manpower would continue to discourage foreign investors. The government’s policies also discourage trade unions which play a useful role in industrial economies by mediating between the industrial workers and the factory management.
A higher economic growth fuels inflation and raises the cost of living which becomes problematic since most people can’t make a comfortable living if their incomes do not rise commensurately. The IMF has forecast a spike in inflation from 2.9 pc in FY 2016 to 4.3 pc and 5 pc in FY 2017 and FY 2018 respectively. The rising inflation would lead to hike in interest rates thus increasing the cost of commodity production. This would mean more inflation and hence, greater suffering for low-income groups including the working class.
Unless the government provides hope to the unemployed by setting up a large and countrywide manpower training programme and expands manifold the social security net, the dejected and jobless youngsters are likely to become an easy prey to the terrorist networks recruiting agencies.
