According to SBP 2nd Quarterly report on Economy, Pakistan witnessed over 3 million job losses due to COVID19, while an estimated 6.7 million employees had their Income decline as the nationwide lockdown was introduced.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in a survey of 6,000 households, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) found the impact of Covid-19 at the national and regional levels. It reflects the working status of people before and after the lockdown and identifies the industries and occupations that are most affected.
The study shows that total employment before the deadline was 55.7 million workers and fell to 35 million when movement restrictions were at their peak, marking a decline of 37 percent. However, since then, thanks to easy ease and a gradual return to economic activity, total employment has grown to 52.5 million. This means that about 3.2 million workers have permanently lost their jobs due to Covid-19.
The PBS survey also found that, in addition to job losses, about 6.7 million employees experienced declines in their income.
The survey also shows a breakdown of affected workers by sector. Construction employment was found to be hit hardest by the lockdown, with about 59 percent of the population working in the sector facing job losses and 21 percent facing declining incomes. The study shows that construction employment did not fully recover by October 2020.
According to the SBP report, overall employment growth between July’2020 and November 2020 also increased to 0.9%, as opposed to a 0.3% decline in the preceding period.
At the provincial level, the data show an increase in the number of employees in the Punjab province. From July to November of the fiscal year 2021, employment in the Punjab increased 1.6 percent, compared with a 3.9 percent decline in the same period in the previous fiscal year. In addition, growth in the first two months of the second quarter of the fiscal year 2021 was 2.3 percent higher than in the preceding period. This was due to increased activity in the Punjab industrial sector, which in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2021 and 5.0 percent from October to November 21 fiscal year.
In Sindh, employment growth in the manufacturing sector was negative in the period under review.
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