Despite the pandemic, employment rises steadily The 2020-2021 Labour Force Survey results were released on 31st March. It gives insight into the labour market during Covid-19, demonstrating overall positive developments.
By Zunairah Qureshi
W
hat do you think would have happened to employment in Pakistan in the last few years? An immediate thought would be that the unemployment rate will have been soaring thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, to the contrary, there has been a marked increase in employment despite the pandemic. Coming after the delayed results of the last 2018-2019 edition of the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the 2020-2021 LFS by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) updates the labour market’s situation during the Covid-19 pandemic period. The survey, which was conducted for the period of June 2020 to July 2021 was, for the first time, carried out on digital tablets through a specialised Android software application. The survey obtained data from the highest number of sample households in the history of all LFS previously conducted. A total of 99,904 households were surveyed, which is a considerable increase from the 41,184 households that were surveyed for the 2018-2019 LFS. The LFS reported that labour force
38
participation rates and employment, notably for women, increased between the last and present survey periods. Appropriately, more young people joined the labour force, however, participants from the under 15 age group decreased. This edition included a section on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reporting performance for each of its indicators. This encompasses a breakdown of data for employment of disabled persons. It was previously reported by PBS that, ‘Labour Force Survey for 2019-2020 did not take place due to preparations for an extensive survey in 2020-2021.’ This means the newly released LFS results are a much needed and crucial update which may remain relevant for some time. PBS communicated to Profit that, ‘We are currently focusing our energy and efforts on the upcoming 7th census. At the time of the national census, all other surveys apart from price updates are halted.’ So, it is hard to expect another LFS update anytime soon.
Labour Force Participation
[
All comparisons of the 2020-2021 LFS results are against that of the previous 20182019 LFS’ result]
Both the crude and refined activity participation rates increased since 2019. The crude labour force participation rate is 32.3%, meaning that this percentage of Pakistan’s total population is either employed or available for work. The refined rate is 44.9% which means that this percentage of Pakistan’s working-age (10 years and above) population is either employed or available for work. This makes sense as there is a significant increase in participation from the 15 – 44 age groups. In contrast, there is a decline in participation from the 10-14 and 45 and above age groups. The age-specific participation data indicates increasing youth participation in the labour force. A side by side comparison for participation rates from the previous LFS and the new LFS depicts an increasing youth bulge It is, however, interesting to note the decrease in the number of younger kids in the labour force, who are perhaps increasingly opting for school instead of working. The Labour Force Survey SDG indicator for participation rate of youth in formal and informal education was estimated at 38.2%. Updated data for the number of school-going kids will be available through the upcoming national census. In terms of sex, female participation for crude labour force remained the same overall, with increased participation from the age
