Pakistan Fails to Accommodate Highly Educated Youth in Jobs

Dr. Tooba Pervaiz Banday
The unemployment crisis in Pakistan is denying opportunities to many highly qualified young people who could otherwise contribute greatly to the nation’s development and progress. While holding a doctorate and having published research papers in high-impact international journals, Ph.D. graduates find themselves unable to secure even entry-level jobs that end up going to others with far less qualifications. The job descriptions and criteria simply do not accommodate people with their level of education and training. Talk to any young PhD holder in Pakistan and one will hear a story of skills going unused and potentials going untapped due to limitations in our employment landscape. Hundreds of thousands of rupees and years of hard work invested in acquiring world-class education are yielding little return for such individuals. This is a pressing failure on the part of both public and private sector organizations in Pakistan. By not designing job profiles that make optimum use of advanced education, technical skills and analytical abilities, they are depriving the nation of intellect that could otherwise solve problems and drive new innovations. While literacy and basic education do empower individuals, a developed country is built on harnessing higher-order talent. If we desire sustained growth and emergence as a competitive economy, we must reform hiring practices and create pathways for highly educated youth to meaningfully contribute according to their training. Unless this is addressed on an urgent basis, many of our best minds will continue migrating abroad in search of opportunities, a major loss for any aspiring nation. Pakistan’s future depends on how well it can utilize all its resources, including its human capital. It is time to overhaul our employment landscape and make it receptive to those holding advanced qualifications, so they can fulfill their potential and help take this country to new heights of development.