Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

has one of the largest labour and manpower resources in the world, due to its large population, which is the fifth largest in the world. According to data produced by the CIA World Factbook, the total number of Pakistan's

labour force In macroeconomics, the workforce or labour force is the sum of people either working (i.e., the employed) or looking for work (i.e., the unemployed): \text = \text + \text Those neither working in the marketplace nor looking for work are out ...

is 57.2 million, making it the ninth largest country by available human workforce.CIA World Factbook
/ref> About 43% of this labour is involved in

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, 20.3% in

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

and the remaining 36.6% in other services. The conditions under which Pakistan's blue-collar labour works have often been raised by trade unions and workers' rights organisations. There is also a controversial, yet wide use of child labour in Pakistan. Along with other countries in the

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

, Pakistan extensively exports much of its labour to nearby

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

countries of the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. In Pakistan, there exists a significant unemployment issue, resulting in numerous individuals being devoid of gainful employment opportunities. A considerable portion of these available jobs carries inherent risks and dangers. Despite the perilous nature of such work, children are often compelled to undertake these tasks as their only means of earning compensation to sustain both themselves and their families. Labour Right Abuse The Pakistani government has not effectively implemented the lessons it should have gleaned from the Khaadi protests and the tragic fire incident at Ali Enterprises concerning labor rights protection and safety. Consequently, labor abuses persist unchecked in the country's garment factories. Human rights organizations in Pakistan point out that the nation's labor laws inadequately address the exploitation of children who, from a very young age, engage in work on the streets or within middle-class households.

References

{{Pakistan-stub

See also

References