ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is witnessing a sharp rise in unemployment rates among highly educated women as one out of four highly educated women remains unemployed.
Drawing on findings from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2024-25, a latest Gallup analysis shows that female unemployment increases steadily with higher levels of education, a trend that challenges conventional assumptions about the relationship between education and employability.
According to PBS data cited in the report, unemployment rates among women are lowest for those with no formal education, at 4.7 percent. The rate rises to 9.0 percent for women with education below matric, and 15.5 percent for those who have completed matriculation.
The increase becomes more pronounced at higher levels of education. Women with intermediate qualifications face an unemployment rate of 23.6 percent. For those holding a bachelor’s degree, the rate stands at 23.8 percent, while women with master’s, M.Phil, or PhD degrees experience unemployment at 23.9 percent.
The data indicates that nearly one in four highly educated women in Pakistan is unemployed.
The report emphasizes that the trend does not suggest education reduces employability. Instead, it points to structural constraints in Pakistan’s labour market that limit the absorption of educated female workers.
Among the key factors identified are limited availability of suitable white-collar jobs, skill mismatches between academic training and market demand, slow growth in high-productivity sectors and social norms that restrict female mobility and workforce participation.
The findings suggest that while female educational attainment has expanded significantly in recent years, the economy has not generated a corresponding increase in appropriate employment opportunities.
The analysis argues that improving female labour force participation will require more than expanding access to higher education. It calls for targeted job creation in high-skill sectors, expansion of private enterprise, improved workplace safety and stronger mechanisms to support school-to-work transitions.
Without parallel growth in formal services, professional occupations, and knowledge-based industries, the report warns, rising educational attainment may continue to coincide with persistent joblessness among women. The findings highlight what researchers describe as a structural disconnect between progress in female education and the labour market’s capacity to absorb educated workers.
