Report by Engineering Post
The Prime Minister’s Youth Skill Development Programme is being implemented at an estimated cost of Rs 4.9 billion for skill training in emerging as many as 39 Information Technology (IT) 53 industrial and 14 hardcore skills targeting the domestic and international job markets, especially for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) , Gulf region countries, European Union and Far Eastern states like Japan, Korea etc.
More than 56000 youth have so far been trained under this programme, according to the reports available from the official sources concerned.
Additionally, a good number of the youth were also being skilled in German, Japanes, Korean, English and Arabic languages through genuine language training platforms in collaboration with the training service providers in the country.
Pakistan was among those countries which have demographic dividends but due to a mismatch of skills, low level , low level skills and a stagnant job market, the country was unable to duly harness the demographic dividend. It was estimated that almost 60 percent of the labour force was between 15-29 years of age. Despite this demographic dividend, the country was facing a high rate of youth unemployment.
Recognising the challenges of NEET (Not in Education, Employment ,or Training), the federal government has taken various policy and programme actions for addressing these challenges at the federal and provincial levels and has taken a number of initiatives such as the Youth Employment Schemes , digital skills initiatives.
The share of unemployed labour force comprising the youth was as high as 64 percent of the total labour force. The challenges faced by the labour force included the significant rate of the youth, not in education, employment or training, mismatching of demand for skills, education training .
Under different programmes, job opportunities were being created for the youth as well as the unemployed not only in the domestic market but also in the international market for absorbing about 1.4 million youth during the ongoing financial year 2024-25.
