Women in the Workforce in Quetta: Results from the Quetta Urban Household Survey - Pakistan Gender and Social Inclusion Platform and Poverty and Equity Program

Abstract

Pakistan’s female labor force participation (FLFP) remains low by regional and global standards. Furthermore, data show major disparities between rural and urban FLFP, with the latter being significantly lower. This note contains analysis of women’s labor market outcomes as reported by women in the city of Quetta, Balochistan Province, using data from the World Bank’s 2021 Quetta Urban Household Sur vey (QUHS). The multipurpose QUHS (as well as a similar survey conducted in urban Peshawar in 2020) at tempts to improve measurement of FLFP by collecting information on labor market outcomes directly from all working-age household members. Hence, in terms of implementation, it differs from standard labor force surveys (LFSs) in Pakistan that use one or two proxy respondents to report for other household members. It also increases the number of questions that directly list all possible forms of female employment. Finally, it allows for a more comprehensive definition of employment by accounting for production of goods for family use. Self-reporting of labor status in the QUHS allows for more accurate estimates of FLFP in urban Pakistan compared to what is reported in the most recent LFS. According to benchmarks from different subsamples in the 2020–21 LFS, the FLFP estimates from the QUHS always yield higher rates of FLFP (16.1 percent). The difference between the FLFP estimates in the two surveys is significant at the 99 percent level. On the contrary, in the case of men, the difference in estimates of labor force participation between the surveys is smaller and not always significant. When production of goods for family use is included in the accounting of female employment, FLFP increases by a small margin (17.6 percent). The employment profile of women in urban Quetta shows that they are mostly employed in low-value-added activities, mainly manufacturing, as garment and handicraft workers, and display a higher prevalence of own-account, informal, and home-based work. Men, on the contrary, are mostly paid employees. Moreover, women’s jobs are in line with socially accepted occupations, likely a function of how easily these jobs can be done from home. Over 78 percent of employed women in urban Quetta are home-based workers who work on their own account and have low chances of upward mobility. These results are in line with figures for urban Peshawar and urban Pakistan. The observed low level of FLFP and the nature of the profile of female employment in urban Pakistan are explained by factors such as low human capital endowment, lack of agency in various aspects of life, limited mobility, safety concerns, deep-rooted patriarchal norms, stereotypes about women’s role in the household, time devoted to unpaid care and household work, and lack of information about labor market opportunities.