According to Imperial College London, various people could die globally from coronavirus unless the international experts see urgent intervention. Since World War II unfold, they also could see the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster. No doubt, the Government of Pakistan has been passing by a tough condition as it is still fighting with both COVID-19 and hunger simultaneously. The policy makers have to make decisions for the whole population in Pakistan and not just a few thousands. From the other countries the ground reality in Pakistan was dissimilar. As compared to the various states the situation was much better in the country.
| Indicators of Labour Force | ||
|---|---|---|
| Details | 2014-15 | 2017-18 |
| Labour Force | 61.04 | 65.50 |
| Male | 46.38 | 50.74 |
| Female | 14.66 | 14.76 |
| Employed labour force | 57.42 | 61.71 |
| Male | 44.07 | 48.17 |
| Female | 13.35 | 13.54 |
| Unemployed | 3.62 | 3.79 |
| Male | 2.31 | 2.57 |
| Female | 1.31 | 1.22 |
| Crude participation rate(%) | 32.3 | 31.7 |
| Male | 48.1 | 48.3 |
| Female | 15.8 | 14.5 |
| Un employment rate | 5.9 | 5.8 |
| Male | 5.0 | 5.1 |
| Female | 9.0 | 8.3 |
The Government officials announced that under the Ehsaas Emergency Programme Rs35 billion were distributed so far among 2.861 million people. Sources recorded that the significance of finding a balance between slowing the spread of the virus and ensuring lower-income people don’t go hungry.
“Poor nations with weak health systems are drowning in debt, while rich nations are showing they can unlock trillions to build new hospitals and keep their economies alive”
In comparison with the rest of the globe it is also recorded that a lower number of deaths doesn’t mean the people can afford to avoid taking precautionary measures. Unfortunately the nationwide tally of COVID-19 affected patients has reached 8,418 cases and it has claimed 176 lives till April 20, 2020. Ehsaas Programme aims at producing career opportunities, according to the Economic Survey FY2019, opportunities through working in partnership with private sector. This whole agenda of Ehsaas is heavily skewed towards the uplift of poor women—from the 6 million women who are predicted to advantage from the “Kifalat” to preferential support for women by “Tahafaz”. The statistics revealed that greater than 50 percent of the education vouchers and scholarships will be given to women. Furthermore for women preferentially, Insaf Card covers health situations. Not just health and education, but jobs and economic empowerment is crucial for poor women. In this regard the government officials recorded that the graduation initiative solely serves women.
The Government of Pakistan will explore ways by the recommendations of the Labour Expert Group, to recognize the work of all categories of non-agricultural informal economy workers and agricultural workers and pave the way for their coverage under labour legislation pertaining to wages and other conditions of work. According to the Prime Minister Imran Khan, the provision of funds under Ehsaas Programme is presently purely made on the basis of merit and transparency is ensured throughout the process. Moreover, he has been analyzing the challenges faced through the people while battling out the pandemic in the province.
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Sources recorded that youth around the province is excited to become a part of ‘Tiger Relief Force’ and will ensure active participation in collecting relief funds for this programme. The attempts of youth in tackling the present condition are praiseworthy, however, with grave public crisis, Pakistan is also fighting with poverty and other economic setbacks. On the other hand it is also recorded that Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme has been launched in the context of the economic hardship being experienced through the susceptible because of the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Statistics also showed that the financial help under this programme is meant to assist them buy rations so that they don’t go hungry. Furthermore through this programme, 1.2 million families will get Rs12,000. Funds distribution would be done on the basis of biometric verification, this way no one will be able take advantage of funds assigned for someone else, like if there had been a card system. Under the interest free loans component of the National Poverty Graduation Initiative, 80,000 monthly interest free loans would be allocated nationwide over the next four years.
According to the analysis recorded in the Economic Survey FY2019 also showed that the agriculture sector has the largest share but its trend is slowly falling. The share of agriculture-related employment has fallen from greater than 48.42 percent in 1999-2000 to 38.5 percent by 2017-18. This explained almost 10 percentage points fall. The Survey also revealed that the employment ratio has raised from 34.25 percent in 1999-2000 to 37.6 percent in 2017-18 as this sector provide career opportunities which are diverse in nature such as unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and high skilled which includes doctors, engineers, advocates, builders and financial consultants In these sectors the total participation rate has increased. The share of employment in industry sector has raised from 17.33 percent in 1999-2000 to 23.89 percent in 2017-18. Because of rising share of the services and manufacturing sectors and falling share of agriculture in employment, the labour market in the country is experiencing structural changes in its composition.
According to Labour Force Survey 2017-18 the overall unemployment rate was 5.79 percent. The age bracket of 20-24 explained that the highest unemployment rate of 15.17 percent for the females and 10.5 percent for male furthermore, youth unemployment rate is quite high as against to the average unemployment rate in Pakistan.
In last I would like to mention here that the coronavirus pandemic has almost stopped the Pakistan’s economic progress while recovery will be long and difficult and will definitely impact poor citizens in Pakistan.