Unemployment is a major economic and social problem of our country. It is rural as well as urban. It is very serious and alarming and it has given birth to many evils. It is found not only among educated people, but there are millions of laborers, peasants, and unskilled or halfskilled workers who are unemployed today. It demands its immediate remedy because it threatens the peace, prosperity and stability of free Pakistan.
There are many causes of this serious problem. The use of machinery on large scale in production is a very important cause. It has reduced the scope for human labor to a great extent. Another cause is the enormous increase in population. It has been estimated that the population growth rate is. 3.5% per year which is one of the highest in the world? Population and production increase in geometrical and arithmetical progression respectively. Hence the means of employment cannot keep pace with the growing population.
The defective system of our education is also responsible for this serious problem. We attach great importance to literary education. We neglect the technical education. This accounts for the growing unemployment. After finishing his education our young man thinks it below his dignity to do physical labor. The desk jobs are insufficient to absorb the growing number of educated young men. Hence unemployment prevails in the country.
Now the remedies of unemployment are clear. We have to develop our economy on modern lines. Our agriculture is very backward. Incentive cultivation with modern technique and improved manures can provide ample and fruitful employment. We have to apply brakes to growing population. People are to teach the advantages of birth control.
The system of education is to be overhauled. It is no use producing thousands of graduates. We should lay more stress on professional and technical education. We should make the young men understand that all kinds of work are good. It is not the kind of work but the manner in which it is done which is important. As soon as they give up their hatred towards manual labor, they will get jobs.
We have to develop our cottage industries. They suit Pakistani conditions better. Our peasants who remain idle for six months during the year can add to their income by taking to some of these useful industries. Since there is scarcity of capital we have to use such devices as involve more labor and less capital.
Our Government is fully alive to the gravity of the problem. It is making an all-out effort to solve it as speedily as it is possible. The National Planning Commission has already formulated a programme to solve unemployment.
