Skills Mismatch and Graduate Unemployment: Aligning Higher Education with CPEC/SEZ-Driven Economic Opportunities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Keywords:
Skills Mismatch, Graduate Unemployment, CPEC, Rashakai Special Economic Zone, Higher Education, Labour Economics, Khyber PakhtunkhwaAbstract
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is facing an economic dilemma as the province has the highest provincial unemployment rate in the latest Labour Force Survey in Pakistan, but has the Rashakai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) as the flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) industrial project in the province. This article explores and analyzes the existing gap between the higher education output of KP and the labour needs of the SEZs connected to CPEC, based on the data provided by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, with the help of institutional data on SEZs related to CPEC. The findings reveal that although KP has a higher unemployment rate of 9.6% than the national unemployment rate of 7.1%, there was an overrepresentation of graduates in the labour force who are not employed (14.8%) as compared to those who are employed (8.9%). The unemployment rate for technical and vocational training systems in the country was estimated at around 70% above the demand in the industry. Rashkai's enterprises are mostly in light industrial manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and chemical processing, which are more technical and engineering-based than the generalist degrees that make up KP's university enrolment. The article places this in the backdrop of the existing literature on the issue of disconnection between TVET and industry and teacher quality problems in Pakistan, and suggests the detailed curriculum mapping of TVET curriculum, detailed internship pipelines and articulation between TVET and university as practical mechanisms for alignment.
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