Key takeaways
- Over 700,000 Pakistanis left for work abroad in 2023-24, many of them skilled.
- Research spending is only 0.2–0.3% of GDP, below Bangladesh, Vietnam and Malaysia.
- Vietnamese workers produce roughly three times the output of Pakistani workers.
- IMF programmes and currency moves cannot fix a talent deficit.
- Growth sectors that retain talent must be paired with education and R&D reform.
In this Paradigm Shift column (December 2025), Dr. Ghulam Mohey-ud-din argues that Pakistan’s recurring economic crises are a symptom of a deeper problem. The country is losing, under-training and under-using its people faster than it can replace them.
The argument
Emigration is the clearest signal. More than 700,000 Pakistanis left to work abroad in 2023-24, and skilled professionals are among them. Their departure weakens productivity in exactly the sectors that could lift growth.
Those who stay often graduate without the skills employers need, producing the paradox of firms complaining about shortages while graduates cannot find work. Research spending, at less than 0.2 to 0.3 percent of GDP according to World Bank data, trails peers such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Malaysia, leaving Pakistan dependent on imported ideas and slow to adopt technology. The column estimates that a Vietnamese worker now produces nearly three times the output of a Pakistani worker.
A strategy built on cheap labour is running out of road. Without better skills and technology, Pakistan cannot compete on quality, and conventional macroeconomic fixes, from IMF programmes to currency adjustments, do nothing to rebuild the talent base.
What needs to change
- Grow high-value domestic sectors, including IT, engineering, fintech and green technology, that give talent a reason to stay.
- Overhaul curricula and set up industry-led skills councils.
- Raise R&D funding substantially and strengthen university-industry links.
- Build technology parks and start-up ecosystems with venture capital.
- Bring public-sector pay for specialists closer to international benchmarks.
The column’s conclusion is that stabilisation without a talent strategy only postpones the next crisis.