Labour Market and COVID-19: Provincial-Level Analysis of Vulnerable Employment Across Sectors

PIDE COVID-19 Bulletin No. 4 identified the vulnerable employment in Pakistan across different sectors at the national level, and estimated the number that is potentially facing being laid off under different scenarios of a shutdown. For the relief packages announced by the federal and provincial governments to be effective, it is important to examine the employment vulnerability across the provinces. Before we examine the potential layoffs among those who are vulnerably employed across sectors in provinces, it is important to first examine the variations in total and vulnerable employment. This is shown in Figure 1. Punjab has the highest total and vulnerable empolyment in absolute numbers. Being the most populated province, this is expected but we are concerned about numbers, and not just proprotions, here because any relief that is provided should be according to the number of those affected across the provinces.