Despite Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s claim that the rate of unemployment in the country stands at 6.5 per cent, data shows otherwise. According to the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), the unemployment rate is much higher at 16 per cent. Highlighting the rising rate of unemployment in the county, PIDE said that at least 24 per cent of educated people are jobless at the moment in the country, reported Dawn.

The desperate situation is more reflective in the fact that at least 1.5 million people recently applied for a peon’s position in a high court advertised recently, reported the Pakistan-based newspaper. Among those who applied for the job were MPhil degree holders.

The institute, in its briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Planning and Development, highlighted that 40 per cent of educated—both undergraduate and graduate—were unemployed in the country. The public policy think tank also pointed out that many educated people got themselves enrolled in MPhil studies even as they struggled to bag a better job, suggesting this may be skewing the unemployment rate as the aforesaid people weren’t being included in the figures.

It also pointed out that no research was being conducted by the government, adding that all such studies were done from abroad. It said several research institutes were operating in the country, but the research purposes were not being fulfilled.

Meanwhile, a survey published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed that joblessness in Pakistan has jumped from 5.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 6.9 per cent in 2018-19. The first year of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in power saw an increase in unemployment in the case of both men and women, with the male unemployment rate rising from 5.1 per cent to 5.9 per cent and female unemployment rate jumping from 8.3 per cent to 10 per cent, reported Dawn.