Based on the most recent Labour Force Survey data (2024–25), Pakistan is facing a worsening unemployment crisis, with the national unemployment rate rising to 7.1%, the highest in 21 years. Out of the total 5.9 million unemployed people, 4.6 million, or 77.5%, were literate. Nearly one million people with educational degrees were unemployed. The highest number of unemployed people was in the age group of 15 to 29 years, followed by the age group of 15 to 24 years. Other estimates present an even bleaker picture. The Population and Housing Census 2023 puts the unemployment rate at 22 percent, which means the youth find no space to work and prefer to leave the country if they find an opportunity.
A university degree is meant to be a clear marker of talent, potential and prospects. But in today's Pakistan, the prevalence of degrees and the abundance of degree-holders have resulted in the blurring of these markers, leaving both graduates and employers questioning the need and impact of degrees. Employers and graduates alike complain about skill gaps and families express frustration over the constant rise in tuition fees and the prevalent joblessness. Renowned sociologist, Prof. Randall Collins, in his famous book The Credential Society, described this phenomenon as “credential inflation”—as more people earn a degree or certain credibility, the degree or the credibility itself loses the signalling power. Consequently, employers keep raising the eligibility bar while frustration mounts among graduates and society alike.
A logical question here would be: why are degrees losing their value?
There are multiple reasons behind this problem.
Program proliferation is a major reason here. Universities often replicate oversaturated departments, such as Business, English, Computer Science, etc. while critical areas such as agricultural technology, logistics, energy transition and data science remain underserved. To make matters worse, there are very few internships and apprenticeship opportunities that bridge the gap between academic study and professional need. Whether academia should focus on the professional need or teach employability skills is another question that needs to be addressed.
We also need to rethink the requirement for degrees altogether, since an increasing number of employers around the world are moving to skill-based hiring, now popularly known as the “degree reset”.
To address this problem, our enrolment and accessibility must grow, while emphasizing quality checks and quality control at the heart of the entire system. The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan should be the gatekeeper of this process, ensuring quality entry and growth on both individual and institutional levels.
Another crucial and timely action will be to raise and nurture the standard of colleges, which accommodate the highest number of students. Moreover, certain fields or departments that have the scope to integrate timely professional and employable skills, along with academic ones, should revisit their objectives and review their curricula and syllabi.
It is needless to mention the urgency of embracing technology and AI, as our history shows that we tend to adapt tools only when they lose their effectiveness and relevance. Finally, archiving and publishing annual graduation and placement data should be made mandatory for the institutions and policymakers.
Overall, education must remain a ladder, not a treadmill, while considering the pace, demand and need of the students, teachers, employers, institutions, and the world in general. Expansion without quality turns degrees into powerless papers. Therefore, a well-balanced connection between quality and quantity is the solution, at least for now.
The writer is a member of staff.
