Islamabad [Pakistan], September 27 (ANI): The unemployment rate in Pakistan has reached 16 per cent which is contradictory to the Imran Khan-led Pakistan government's claim of 6.5 per cent, as per the data by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) on Monday.

The PIDE has highlighted a grim picture of the rising rate of unemployment and said that at least 24 per cent of educated people are jobless at the moment in the country, according to Dawn.

In its briefing to Senate Standing Committee on Planning and Development meeting, the PIDE said that 40 per cent of educated (undergraduate or graduate) women were also unemployed countrywide.

The PIDE officials pointed out that some educated people get themselves enrolled in M.Phil studies to continue learning as they struggle to fetch a better job. This also skewed the unemployment rate as they weren't included in the figures.

Quoting officials, Dawn reported further that at least 1.5 million people applied for a peon's position in a high court that was advertised recently.

"Among those applying for the job included M.Phil degree holders," officials said.

In response, the PIDE officials said that no research was being conducted at the government level, adding that all such studies were done from abroad. The committee said several research institutes were operating in the country, but the research purposes were not being fulfilled.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's joblessness has jumped from 5.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 6.9 per cent in 2018-19, according to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The first year of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in power saw an increase in unemployment in the case of both males and females, with the male unemployment rate rising from 5.1 per cent to 5.9 per cent and female unemployment rate jumping from 8.3 per cent to 10 per cent, reported Dawn. (ANI)