Moaaz Manzoor

The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (MOPHRD) has proposed the establishment of a Labour Market Research Cell (LMRC) to help address fragmentation in labour market and immigration-related data across federal and provincial institutions and strengthen evidence-based policymaking.

The indicative budget of the project is Rs425 million, according to official concept documents available with Wealth Pakistan.

The project will be executed through MOPHRD’s allied entities, including Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BE&OE), Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC) and Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF).

According to the concept note, LMRC will serve as a centralised platform for collecting, integrating, standardising, and analysing labour market and overseas employment data from multiple stakeholders. These include MOPHRD, BE&OE, OEC, OPF, State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, National Database and Registration Authority, National Vocational and Technical Training Commission, Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority and provincial labour departments.

The document states that the LMRC will not duplicate existing operational systems. Instead, it will harmonize and standardize datasets to improve coordination, transparency and analytical capacity for labour market planning, skills development and immigration management.

The indicative budget of Rs425 million includes both one-time capital expenditures and recurring annual costs spread over two years. One-time capital costs include Rs60 million for system design and architecture development, Rs46 million for hardware and infrastructure procurement, and Rs25 million for data enhancement and standardization.

Recurring annual costs include Rs91 million for human resources, Rs30 million for software licenses and subscriptions, Rs32 million for hosting, maintenance and cybersecurity, Rs18 million for continuous data improvement, Rs40 million for capacity building, and Rs83 million for seminars, vehicles and miscellaneous expenses.

The document highlights that Pakistan’s labour immigration and employment ecosystem currently operates in silos, limiting effective policy formulation and monitoring. Through improved data integration and analytical tools, the LMRC is expected to enhance institutional coordination, support labour market forecasting, and strengthen governance in overseas employment and workforce planning.

The project is proposed for implementation over two years, from July 2026 to June 2028, with the objective of establishing a sustainable institutional mechanism for labour market research and data-driven decision-making within MOPHRD.

Credit: INP-WealthPk