Pakistan to create 200,000 jobs in IT sector: minister

2006-05-17 22:59:13 Link

ISLAMABAD, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan is planning to create some 200,000 jobs in its fast-growing IT sector in the next three years, Pakistani Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmed Khan said on Wednesday.

An average of 100 to 200 students per university would be picked up depending upon the students' performance and be placed in the top 10 or 15 IT and IT enabled services companies for internships, the state-run APP news agency quoted the minister as saying.

Pakistani IT Ministry is now pushing forward a career placementprogram which will provide talented IT-disciplined graduates internships in Pakistan's top IT companies.

Awais also reiterated that his ministry would be taking ambitious steps for job creation in the IT sector, according to the APP report.

In the last three years the telecommunication sector in the country has seen an exponential rate due to liberalization of thissector which has attracted investments, Awais was quoted as saying.

At present about half of the country's population has the telephone facility which will be raised to 85 percent in the next three years, the report said. Enditem

Im telling you guys this news just made my week!

200,000 jobs in the IT sector is a Significantly humoungous number and thats only in the next 3 years.We should have a goal to employ 2 million in IT sector by 2015.

Remember guys IT will not only be the future of pakistan but also the future of Mankind itself

AoA

I would take this with a large pinch of salt. I have recently looked closely at our IT industry and all I can say is that it is still in its infancy - it is near impossible to take on 200,000 people. I think MR Leghari is getting over excited and is trying to talk up the IT industry. His private views differ from his 'official' views - I have spoken to him at length about the IT industry.

Having said this, there is great scope for development over the next 2-5 years however not the extent the minister hopes. The main areas for potential growth are software development and BPO - Business Process Outsourcing. The BPO sector can employ large numbers especially the call centres. The software development sector is likely to employ a small number of better trained software engineers and analysts.

Dude wtf
This news is coming from a IT official that works for the GOP not a person on the internet.How exactly do you know the capabilities of paks IT industry? We could have had a better IT industry than India today if only we had exploited our oppuratunity's in the 90's but know we will see pakistan as a IT giant in the future.It is only people like you who dont think pakistan can do this that keeps pakistan back.

Just take india for example they all go around talking about India being a super power deep down we know it is gonna happen we should do the same

Well matey, you are probably a 12 year old who does not know much about the real world....otherwise you wouldn't have made the above comment. The news may come from a minister but it doesn't mean it can or will happen - afterall he is a politician.

As regards my credentials - I am currently investing/setting up joint ventures in the IT industry in Pakistan hence I do have a much better idea of what is happening/reality rather than just dreaming and unlike most people doing something about it.

Yes we would have been in a better position had we done, what we are doing now, in the 90's. The potential is certainly there but it will take time and a lot of hard work. We are now basically in a similiar position as India in the early 90's.

my brothers please calm down and aviode insulting each other please.

well as for this news i think it is great if it happens it will help reduce poverty a lot, and looking at the goverments past recorde and how they have increased the economy and reduced poverty and job un-employment i think there is a better chance of this happing if the goverment does say so and if it does then what could be better then this ?

so for IT i too think it is our future indeed, and our young youth are the best in IT, have you people heard of 2 youngest MCP of the world are Pakistanis. Arfa Karim and Babar Iqbal. Both are Pakistani so yes we do have the talent and i dont have any doubt on the capabilities of Pakistanis in IT no one should !

in a country of 160,000,000 million people here the unoficial unemployment rate is 10% it will take a lot more than 200,000 jobs to reduce poverty.

yes but atleast it is a step forward ofcourse Inshallah we will see the day when it drops to 0 INSHALLAH THAT DAY WILL COME ! and why dont you look at this from a positive way ?! i mean it will help improve 200 thosuand peoples live in Pakistan now that is a lot ! but i agree there is a lot to be done, the war has just started !

I know of no country that has 0% unemployment. Again with all economic news...always be cautious when it comes to Pakistan.

160,000,000 million = 160,000,000,000,000. That's about 160 trillion. God forbid if that's our population then we are doomned.



There is no such thing as 0% unemployment rate. The minimum rate of unemployment is the natural rate of unemployment (also called the seasonal rate) which economist consider 4%. If any country has a 0% unemployment rate it means people in that country are stuck in their jobs and are not able to move forward in their career. That's a disasterous situation.

Good news and as someone said, take it with a pinch of salt. It didn't mean that this is a fake news, only that we look at it from a realistic point of view and acsess the situation accordingly. True that 200,000 jobs wouldn't even make a dent in the 10% unemployment of Pakistan, yet it is better than having nothing going for us at all.

For my fellow countrymen who're arguing over something which is suppose to be a good news. Please guys, relax, both of you are right and yet both of you are wrong at the same time. This news is not be embelished with arrogance, niether is it be approached with pessimism. IT should be looked at with a realistic understanding that this is just the begining and there is alot to be done. Don't fight among one another, it make me bleed. Correct when one is wrong, and accept with humility when corrected. Be Pakistani!

IT Sector is just but one way of filling in the unemployment gap. There are millions of jobs that are labor jobs which need to be fulfilled with a chance to excel and go further than just labor. Where there is a parallel incentive that allows the common Pakistani to learn and aquire expertise in such fields as construction, labor and etc. There is much to be done in this respect, sitting here and commenting on it is just one way of letting out the steam. I have a better idea, why don't you join ways you can to contribute to the development of Pakistan, regardless of whome you support Musharraf, Nawaz or Bhutto.

sorry yar, typed my bank balance by mistake!





don't get me wrng dude, of course i am pleased about this and i will be even more pleased when it happens. So far i think our total employment in the IT sector are around 30,000 at the most. long way to go.

You said ...



I posted ...



I guess we are talking on the same wave-length, are we!!?

Hey its these kind of mistakes that keep us going with all the stress at work and at home. I am always looking to make myself laugh out of everything.

And Ameen to bank balance bro.

bro it's the spin-offs or trickling-down effect form all this as well. if 200K ppl get jobs in the next 5 yrs then those 200K will want goods which means greater demands which means more factories and local products which means more employment etc etc.

good news but as already said has to be taken with a slight pinch of salt.

Thank you Dizasta....you seem to understand reality. I was not trying to be pessimistic only just being realistic. The approach announced by the minister was how the Indians developed their industry. Unfortunately our IT industry is still in its infancy and hence simply cannot absorb 200,000 people.

Of course I would love to see our IT industry flourish, hence I am trying to help develop it. Inshallah over time, we will have a large IT industry but its going to be hard work. If we can aborb even half the suggested numbers over the next 2-3 years it would be great. This means employment for 100,000 people and more importantly income for 100,000 families.

As regards general employment , then we have to look at the entire economy. We are principally an agro-based economy and hence also need to increase our agricultural output. This would then lead to other associated industries to expand ie. cotton - textiles, sugar, wheat, rice etc.

The largest employers in any courty are the small/medium enterprises SME's - which is why it is also vital to concentrate on agriculture and not just engineering based industries.

sorry i'm going off topic now therefore should stop here.

PS.

If anyone has experience in the IT industry and is interested in Pakistan let me know.