Youth Population and The Labour Market Of Pakistan: A Micro Level Study

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the youth labour market participation in Pakistan. Based on micro data of LFS (2006-07), the strength of analysis presented in this paper is twofold; first, it presents a descriptive analysis of youth labour market activities by a single year of age, secondly, the econometric analysis describes the determinants of youth employment probabilities in Pakistan. Results of our study show that a significant number of youth starts their career early which can be costly for productivity and earnings later in life. In general, these young people face higher unemployment rate at the start of their career which gradually decreases with increase in age. It was also noted that there does exist a significant difference between male and female youth labour market outcomes in different regions of the country. In general, unemployment rate among female youth is much higher than that of male youth in all regions of country. An important finding of the study is about the youth in Balochistan which are more willing to work but least likely to get employment as compared to youth in other provinces. Results of Logistic Regression analysis suggest that age, sex, marital status, migration, training, location, education level and characteristics of household have significant impact on employment probabilities of youth in Pakistan. It has also been concluded that youth is a diverse social group with different characteristics and attitudes about work in different regions of Pakistan. It is necessary for policy makers to avoid considering youth in Pakistan as a homogenous group. It is to be pointed out that unemployment in Pakistan derives from several causes. The heterogeneity of jobless people must be taken into account in our labour employment policies. To create youth employment opportunities; there is a need for integrated approach comprising supportive economic policies that take into account issues pertaining to both labour supply and demand.