‘Punjab’s growth strategy 2018 to offer youth with 500,000 jobs

Lahore: The Executive Director of National Vocational Training Commission Zulfiqar Ahmed Cheema said on Wednesday that the Punjab Growth Policy-2018 will provide employment to 500,000 youth crosswise the province.

While talking to media, Zulfiqar said that 6 month vocational training courses have been started under the plan which will provide the youth along with the exceptional opportunities to learn abilities and assist them earn a living in the country and outside the country.

He further said that the government was taking steps to provide employment opportunities to women who have completed training courses recently at the vocational training institutes. The interest-free loans will be provided to trained women, who wanted to launch their businesses after the completion of their courses, he added.

Because of the rapidly increasing labour force, the province needs to grow at a much faster rate yearly to provide enough jobs, particularly of good quality, to youth entering the job market, he said.

"The strategy-2018, based on the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS-2014) reveals that we are slowly progressing," he added.

He added that "the biggest challenge we are facing is how to feed, employ as well as to educate 60 per cent youth (aged between 15 to 30 years) of total population of Punjab".

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He said that the government was making strenuous efforts to empower youth and women of the country through education and skills. "Pakistani youth is the future of the country who will make it prosperous", he said adding that the youth in the entire world through history has been a innovatory force.

Zulfiqar Ahmed Cheema said that Punjab Growth Policy-2018 will provide employment to 500,000 youth crosswise the province.