Report

Developing skills in youth to succeed in an evolving South Asian economy

A case study on Pakistan

Ali looks at the camera while he writes in his notebook. A classroom and other students are in the background. — UNICEF Pakistan/2019/Zaidi

Highlights

A third of Pakistan’s population is between 15 and 29 years old (United Nations Development Programme, 2017) but the youth have poor educational outcomes, limited skills and lack the confidence to enter the job market and succeed (Cheema, 2017; BR Research, 2019). Skills development, therefore, represents a key development agenda in Pakistan. This study aims to build a key part of the evidence base on the skills ecosystem by asking three research questions: What is the demand for skilled workers? How is skills development organized? How can skills development efforts be sustained?