Pakistan’s youth challenge is not only about unemployment. It is about building reliable pathways from education and skills to decent work and productive participation.

Pakistan’s youthful population offers considerable potential for economic growth, innovation and social development. However, this potential cannot be realised simply by increasing school enrolment, university admissions or vocational training opportunities. Young people must also be able to transition into productive employment, further education or relevant skills development.

Every publicly funded youth development programme should establish a graduate-tracking mechanism, with follow-up at six and twelve months after training.

Every publicly funded youth development programme should establish a graduate-tracking mechanism, with follow-up at six and twelve months after training.

The challenge is captured by the term NEET: young people who are Not in Education, Employment, or Training. Unlike the conventional unemployment rate, the NEET indicator includes young people who are outside the labour market and may not be actively seeking work, as well as those unable to secure employment despite searching for it. It therefore provides a broader perspective on youth exclusion. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) recognises NEET as an important indicator of young people’s difficulties in accessing education and the labour market.

For Pakistan, the NEET dilemma is not merely an employment issue. It reflects a structural disconnect between education, skills development, labour-market demand and the institutional arrangements intended to support young people. Addressing this challenge requires a shift from measuring programme participation to measuring whether young people actually progress towards sustainable livelihoods.

Pakistan’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2024–25, published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), reports a NEET rate of 28.4 per cent among young people aged 15–24. The corresponding rate is 13.0 per cent for males and 45.4 per cent for females. These figures demonstrate a substantial gender disparity in young people’s participation in education, employment and training.

Sindh’s NEET rate of 32 per cent exceeds the national figure by 3.6 percentage points. More importantly, the female NEET rate in Sindh stands at 51.6 per cent, compared with 14.7 per cent among males. The provincial figures indicate that youth exclusion cannot be understood solely through the availability of jobs; barriers to education, mobility, training and economic participation must also be considered.

These figures should be interpreted carefully. A NEET rate does not mean that every young person concerned is unemployed or without skills. Some may undertake unpaid household and care work, face barriers to participation, or have temporarily left education. The indicator identifies disconnection from recognised education, employment and training pathways, rather than explaining every........

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