The closure of business activity in Pakistan has forced employers to lay off their staff, says PIDE.
The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics has revealed in their recent report about the impact of the pandemic on the country’s job market.
“This means around 3.78 million migrant workers will be left without their source of livelihood,” the report said.
The PIDE pointed out that Punjab employs 5.33 million migrant workers, out of which 2.37 million were facing the threat of losing their jobs. Sindh, having a migrant workforce of 1.3 million, may see 0.58 million laid off. Out of the 1.38 million migrant labour workforce in Khyber Pakhthunkhwawa, 0.61 might face retrenchment; in Balochistan, out of 0.07 million migrant labourers, 0.03m may be laid off; while in Islamabad, 0.19 million migrant workers face the threat of losing their jobs.
“While we worry about remittances from overseas workers, migrant workers remain largely ignored in all our discussions,” PIDE added.
According to official statistics, around 8.51 million migrant workers are working across Pakistan (based on the Labour Force Survey 2017-18). The statistics show that 45% of these are engaged in informal activities, including day labourers, construction workers, domestic helpers or factory workers. More than 65% of migrant workers are residing in only 15 districts across Pakistan, with over a million workers just in Karachi, followed by sizable populations in Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Findings show that a majority of internal migrants are working in wholesale and retail, manufacturing, construction, transport and communication sectors. so employees in these sectors are expected to be hit the hardest.
