A total of 4.95 million job opportunities were created during last two years, resulting in significant decline in unemployment in Pakistan, Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) said in a survey. The reduction in unemployment is due to robust economic growth (8 % per annum) which is the outcome of policies of liberalization, privatization and considerable increase in public sector development budget. According to the survey, the unemployment in urban areas went down from 9.8 % to 8 %, in rural areas 7.6 % to 4.5 %, among males 6.7% to 5.4 % and females 16, 5 % to 9.3 % during the period from 2001-2002 to 2005-2006. Despite relative disadvantages during the period 2001-2002 to 2005-2006 unemployment in Balochistan decreased from 7.8% to 3.2 %, in Sindh 5.1% to 4.4 % in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) 13.1 % to 11.8 % and Punjab 8.5 % to 6 %, whereas youth unemployment of age group 15-24, among males has reduced from 12% to 8 % and females 20.5 % to 9.6 % a step towards women empowerment and bridging gender gap positively. The reduction in unemployment is due to government policies, growth in private investment including foreign direct investment and public private partnership. Access to the credit for the private sector through liberal monitory policy, non restrictive regulatory regime and competitiveness; have contributed to high growth in employment opportunities which really has put a dent on unemployment. The government policies on women empowerment have also reduced gender gap significantly. The FBS conducts Labour force Survey on quarterly basis to monitor structural changes occurred in labour market as a result of economic growth rate in all sectors of economy. The survey confirms International Labour Organization standards and reviewed duly by ILO experts.
