The Degree Trap: Why Pakistan’s Brightest Are Leaving Before They’ve Even Arrived
In June each year, thousands of students walk on a stage, pick up a degree and take a picture for the world that is meant to signify a new beginning. For many of them, it’s actually the beginning of an exit plan.
During 2023, approximately 860,000 high skilled Pakistanis migrated out of the country for employment opportunities abroad. That is not a dribble. That is a generation that is voting with its feet, and it has been no better since. While 9.5 to 9.6 percent youth unemployment sounds almost tame in comparison with the age group it is measured against, in Pakistan, it meant young people aged 15-24, the very group a country must have working to grow it. According to the survey data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) from 2024 to 2025, the unemployment rates are on the rise, industrial sector is shrinking, and there is a disconnect between education and job market.
This is not just about those who are unemployed, and that’s where it should cause us the most concern. It is a tale of the individuals who are able to do the work, but aren’t paid to do it within a system.
Read More: Beyond Borders: Why Pakistani Youth Seeks Opportunities Abroad
A Youth Bulge That Could Become A Burden
Almost 2/3 of the population of Pakistan is below 30 years of age. In theory this should be an economic boon; economist would term a “demographic dividend”, the late-twentieth century East Asian surge in young workers driving decades of economic growth. However, a demographic dividend can only be realized if there are jobs, skills and productive sectors to absorb that wave. They’re what analysts are starting to call a demographic time bomb, millions of young people with a good education who are underemployed with more complaints than hope.
The discrepancy is not accidental but rather makes perfect sense. The emphasis in university education in Pakistan is still on memorizing rather than solving problems. The curriculum changes slowly and industries that are supposed to provide employment for graduates are either rapidly changing or non-existent at home. A Bachelor of computer science can graduate with theory and little to no knowledge of the tools a business would expect on day one. The commerce graduate might know the accounting principles inside and out and have never used a software program a company uses. The end-product is, as one recent analysis put it, an “employer’s market” in which employers could be as picky as they please because there was always someone else willing to take the place of the job and offer the new grad practically nothing leverage to discuss salary, employment terms or prospect for advancement.
Money Isn’t the Only Motivation People Have For Leaving
The migration could be attributed to simply economic differentials between Pakistan and other countries, and of course the monetary aspect plays a role. Long-term financial planning at home has become near impossible with the rise in inflation and currency devaluation. However, talking with young professionals who have quit reveals a different issue: predictability and trust
is an issue. Many appreciate the idea of having less a bigger paycheck than one where merit always wins and policy doesn’t change in a heartbeat and where work you do today will have a reasonable impact five years later. When this sort of stability seems lacking at home, migration becomes less a dream and more a necessity.
Then there is the lesser talked-about expense: less than five per cent of Pakistan’s youth have access to formal credit, according to data on financial inclusion from the World Bank. So the “just start a business” guidance that is handed out to young people who are out of work is not a viable choice for most of them. The capital, mentorship and regulatory environment that makes
entrepreneurship work elsewhere is simply not developed here, and entrepreneurship thus turns into a viable means of survival.
What Actually Needs to Change
It’s all solvable but it’s not something to talk about any more, it’s an economic emergency. That translates into curriculum change that is real, not just a statement of syllabus. It’s a commitment to providing and investing in technical and vocational education, not four-year degrees that provide the promise of employment they can’t. It implies that credit and mentorship must be made more widely available so that entrepreneurship is an actual possibility and not a slogan for those who have no other plank. It also involves creating intentional channels to attract and allow talented Pakistanis living in the diaspora to invest in the country, either through working remotely or through returns, or funding research focused on Pakistan.
The youth who are leaving Pakistan is not abandoning their country. If asked sincerely, most of them will say that they would prefer to have remained. What they’re saying no to is a system that prepared them for a future that it did not create. Until there’s a change, each of those graduation pictures will continue to pose the same silent query: stay and wish for a better future, or leave and find a better future elsewhere.
Anusha Mushtaque is an HR and research professional from Hyderabad, Pakistan, with an MBA in HR and having experience in workforce planning and policy analysis. Her work is about people, data and the systems designed to serve them – and that’s where Pakistan’s youth unemployment problem exists.
