A Review of Labour Force Participation Rates in Pakistan

The purpose of this paper is to throw some light on the labour force in Pakistan with respect to its participation in agriculture and non-agricultural activity over the period 1961 through 1971; in addition some comparison is provided between the activity rates of 1951 and 1961. Finally some tentative explanations of the behaviour of labour force participation rates over the last decade are offered. The data on which this study is based has been drawn from the 1951 and 1961 Censuses of Pakistan and from the Labour Force Survey of the Statistical Division, which is carried out as a regular sample enquiry on national basis since 1963. The data from these surveys has been used to provide estimates of economic activity for each year up to 1971. The population census of 1972 did not collect information on labour force activity