THE issue of unemployment certainly has become chronic which needs to be addressed on an emergency basis. How serious and alarming is the situation can only be gauged from the large number of applications that are received against any vacant seat both in the public and private sectors.
Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (PESCO) on Tuesday informed the Senate Standing Committee on Power that against 3200 vacant posts in the country, 700,000 candidates have applied. One also saw the same scenario in the recently opened seats of Islamabad police and Airport Security Force where a large number of youth turned up only for the physical test. Joblessness indeed creates desperation and disappointment amongst the educated youth and it is time that the government seriously considers to address the issue of unemployment. It is heartening to note that the government is coming up with a comprehensive scheme under which the youth will be given loans up to five million rupees to start their own businesses. This indeed is an important initiative to help the youth stand on their own feet which will also help promote small and medium enterprises and create job opportunities. However, the government also should lift ban on recruitment in public sector departments. Thousands of seats are lying vacant in public sector and people over the years are only being inducted on a contract basis which undoubtedly has also undermined the performance of these institutions. Ad-hocism must be brought to an end and a coherent policy should be formulated in order to ensure induction in government departments on merit. Then in these columns we have repeatedly been stressing for operationalization of special economic zones under the CPEC at the earliest by removing all the hurdles coming in their way. These zones are important not only to bolster the country’s exports but also provide job opportunities to hundreds of thousands of unemployed youth. Focus should also be given to technical and vocational training of youth including the girls as this will also open doors of jobs for them in the foreign markets especially the Gulf.
