ISLAMABAD, Feb 22 (ABC): The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) has proposed establishing a Labour Market Research Cell (LMRC) to strengthen evidence-based policymaking in labour migration and employment planning.
According to official documents available with Wealth Pakistan, the ministry plans to set up the LMRC as a centralized, secure, and scalable IT-based Labour Market Information and Analytics Hub. The proposal carries an indicative budget of Rs425 million for a two-year period from July 2026 to June 2028.
Centralized labour market intelligence hub
The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development will sponsor the project, while the ministry and its allied entities will execute it. These entities include the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BE&OE), Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC), and Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF).
The document notes that Pakistan’s labour migration landscape involves multiple federal and provincial institutions, regulatory bodies, financial institutions, private sector actors, and international organizations. As a result, data often remains fragmented across departments.
Key stakeholders include OP&HRD, BE&OE, OEC, OPF, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Directorate General of Immigration and Passports (DGIP), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC), and provincial Technical Education and Vocational Training Authorities (TEVTAs).
Within this ecosystem, the LMRC will act as a central analytical and intelligence layer rather than an operational body. Specifically, it will consolidate and analyze data generated across institutions and convert it into policy-relevant labour market intelligence.
Data integration and analytical outputs
Under the proposed structure, the LMRC will integrate emigration and overseas employment data with macroeconomic indicators and labour force statistics. In addition, it will incorporate return migration data, border movement records, remittance and investment account information, household and labour force surveys, SDG-related indicators, job-matching platform data, and datasets from relevant international organizations.
Consequently, the cell will generate analytical outputs on labour supply and demand trends, destination- and sector-specific skills demand, skills gap assessments, wage patterns, employer profiles, recruitment practices, and reintegration trends.
These insights will support bilateral labour negotiations, skills development planning, migrant protection strategies, employer engagement frameworks, and parliamentary oversight.
IT infrastructure and budget allocation
The indicative budget of Rs425 million covers both one-time capital expenditures and recurring annual costs over two years.
One-time costs include system design, architecture development, hardware procurement, infrastructure setup, and initial data standardization. Meanwhile, recurring expenses cover human resources, software licenses, hosting and cybersecurity, continuous data enhancement, capacity building, and seminars.
The ministry has outlined a three-phase implementation timeline. First, authorities will complete system design and infrastructure setup. Next, they will integrate data and develop dashboards. Finally, they will operationalize and scale the platform.
Expected economic impact
The proposal anticipates that the LMRC will create a centralized digital platform integrated with allied departments. Moreover, it expects improved evidence-based policy formulation, reduced data fragmentation, and stronger analytical foundations for labour market reforms.
Furthermore, better data integration can help align training institutions with foreign job market demand. It can also strengthen bilateral labour agreements and memoranda of understanding with emerging markets.
The document projects that improved data-driven planning and increased skilled workforce outflow could generate an additional $5 to $10 billion annually in remittances.