PM Shehbaz calls for effective measures to create jobs for youth

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday directed the government to ensure coordinated and effective measures to create employment opportunities for young people under the National Youth Employment Policy, with a monthly review meeting to monitor its implementation.

Chairing a meeting to review progress on the policy, the prime minister said providing decent employment to the country’s skilled and talented youth was among the government’s top priorities.

He called for a comprehensive strategy and inter-ministerial coordination to implement the policy, with special focus on equipping young people, particularly women, with skills to access new employment opportunities.

The prime minister also directed that special attention be given to creating employment opportunities for young people in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

He said institutional reforms had been introduced in the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) to align Pakistan’s skilled workforce with domestic and international business and industrial demand.

According to a briefing, NAVTTC was taking measures to provide workers with international certifications and proficiency in languages required in overseas job markets. Young people were also being trained according to market demand to facilitate employment abroad.

The Digital Youth Hub is providing information on domestic and overseas employment opportunities through a single platform, while Youth Development Cells are being established in educational institutions to provide career guidance, counselling and information about employment and skills development opportunities.

The prime minister also directed an awareness campaign to inform young people about the benefits available under the policy.

Read: PM Shehbaz vows equal education opportunities to realise Quaid-e-Azam’s welfare-state vision

Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme Rana Mashhood briefed the meeting on measures taken in accordance with the prime minister’s directives.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Khan Cheema, Information and Broadcasting Minister Attaullah Tarar, Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik, Information Technology Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Rana Mashhood and other relevant officials attended the meeting.

The government’s youth employment drive comes amid PM Shehbaz’s recent emphasis on expanding opportunities for young Pakistanis through education, technology and skills. Addressing an International Youth Day event on August 12, PM Shehbaz said reducing disparities in access to quality education was essential to ensuring that talent, rather than family background, determined young people’s prospects.

He said the government was focusing on technical education, information technology and artificial intelligence to prepare young people for the changing global job market, while also promoting entrepreneurship so that youth could create employment opportunities for others. The prime minister also announced that 35% of the labour force under the national youth employment policy would comprise women, with at least 10% allocated to startups.

PM Shehbaz also highlighted government initiatives including laptop distribution, overseas training in emerging fields and the expansion of Danish Schools to provide disadvantaged students with greater access to quality education, describing equal opportunity for young people as central to building the welfare state envisioned