Unemployment Rate Evolution in Pakistan from 1990 to 2021

Pakistan’s unemployment rate has shown sharp variations over the years, particularly in the early 1990s, with rates as high as 5.9% in 1991. The rate fluctuated in the following years but saw a significant decrease in 2006, reaching 0.6% in response to various economic reforms and government-backed employment initiatives. This trend of low unemployment continued until 2011, with rates below 1%, likely due to high levels of informal employment not captured in official statistics.

In the 2010s, Pakistan saw more typical fluctuations, with unemployment rising to 4.8% in 2019 and peaking at 6.3% in 2021 due to pandemic-related economic pressures. By this period, the nation’s challenges with both economic reforms and a large informal sector impacted the job market significantly.