The News reported that due to a decline in industrial activities in Punjab, Pakistan, workers are struggling to keep their jobs and those who had been laid off are facing financial hardship.

The Punjab government has already embarked on an ambitious plan to develop new industrial estates and upgrade the infrastructure of existing ones at a time when the entire industrial base of the province is under threat. Thousands of small units have closed down while the running industries are pruning their workforce to stay afloat. No investor is prepared to invest resources in new industrial ventures.

The decline in industrial activities is being experienced in other provinces as well but workers in Punjab suffer the more as most labor intensive industries are in Punjab. Over 80% of textile units are in Punjab. This industry is in deep trouble, over 40% of the knitwear and garment units have closed down while the spinning and weaving activities have gone down by 30%, rendering at least a million workers jobless. The textile sector accounts for 38% of the total industrial workforce in the country.

The majority of car assemblers are located in Sindh while the auto vending industry is based in Punjab. The auto assemblers have a workforce of only 7,000 to 8,000. The auto vendors employ a workforce of over 250,000. After a decline in car sales, the number of workers removed by car assemblers has reached 3,000 while the number of worker relieved from jobs by the auto vending industry is around 125,000. Majority of these jobs were in Punjab.

Steel is produced exclusively by Pakistan Steel Mill in Karachi. Its entire workforce being in public sector is safe. The light engineering industry that uses this steel is mostly located in Punjab. The number of closures in this sector has assumed alarming proportions. Similarly, Punjab is the hub of home appliances manufacturing whose sales are on the decline. There is a substantial decline in the production of television sets, washing machines, split air conditioners or microwave ovens. The decline in production was accompanied with reduction in workforce.

Punjab accounts for 56% of the total population of Pakistan. Any decline in employment opportunities hits the people of Punjab more than other provinces because its industries are based on labor intensive jobs. The fear of job loss has created panic among all class of workers in the province.

(Sourced from www.thenews.com)