CPEC played important role in the development of industrial sector

BEIJING:

According to a recent Labour Force Survey (LFS) published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), a majority of new jobs during the last three years have been created in the industrial sector.

Survey findings revealed that Pakistan’s economy created a total of 5.5 million jobs during the past three years –1.84 million jobs per year on average, which is far higher than the yearly average of creation of new jobs during the 2008-18 decade.

Out of the 5.5 million, 2.5 million jobs were created in the industrial sector. Another 1.4 million jobs were created in the agriculture sector and around 1.7 million in the services sector, the PBS report added.

Experts believe that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has also played an important role in the development of industrial sector of Pakistan by resolving energy crisis and providing more direct and indirect jobs.

Industrialisation in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) under CPEC is targeted at creating around 475,000 direct and 1 million indirect jobs across the country.

Pakistan was facing two vital issues in recent times, ie energy crisis and lack of industrial capabilities.

Before the beginning of commercial operations of a number of energy projects under CPEC, Pakistan was suffering probably its most severe power crisis, with 12-18 hours of load-shedding per day, interrupting industrial production.

Therefore, CPEC is helpful in resolving both the issues. The energy projects, started under CPEC, helped boost industrialisation in the country.

According to officials of the Ministry of Planning and Development, the survey findings were endorsed by a technical committee, comprising official and independent experts.

PBS covered 6,808 enumeration blocks and 99,904 households for survey purposes.