ISLAMABAD, Feb 22 (APP): The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) has proposed the establishment of a Labour Market Research Cell (LMRC) to strengthen evidence-based policymaking in labour migration and employment sectors.
According to official documents available with Wealth Pakistan, the LMRC will be set up as a centralized, secure and scalable IT-based Labour Market Information and Analytics Hub with an indicative budget of Rs425 million for two years from July 2026 to June 2028.
The sponsoring agency is the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, while execution will be carried out by the ministry and its allied entities, including the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BE&OE), Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC), and Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF).
The document explains that Pakistan’s labour migration and employment landscape operates within a complex ecosystem comprising federal ministries, attached departments, provincial entities, regulatory bodies, financial institutions, private sector actors and international organizations.
Key public sector stakeholders identified 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 function as a central analytical and intelligence layer rather than an operational body. It will consolidate and analyze data generated across institutions to transform fragmented information into coherent, policy-relevant labour market intelligence.
Under the proposed structure, the LMRC will integrate emigration and overseas employment data, macroeconomic and labour force indicators, return migration and border movement data, remittance and investment account information, household and labour force surveys, SDG-related indicators, national job-matching platforms, and datasets from relevant international organizations.
The analytical outputs will include labour supply and demand trends, destination- and sector-specific skills demand analysis, skills gap assessments, wage trends, employer profiles, recruitment practices, and return and reintegration patterns.
These outputs are expected to support bilateral labour negotiations, skills development planning, migrant protection measures, employer engagement strategies and parliamentary oversight.
IT infrastructure and human resources the indicative budget of Rs 425 million covers both one-time capital costs and recurring annual expenses over two years.
According to the budget breakdown, one-time capital costs include system design and architecture development, hardware and infrastructure procurement, and initial data enhancement and standardization. Recurring costs include human resource expenses, software licenses and subscriptions, hosting and cybersecurity, continuous data improvement, capacity building, and seminars and miscellaneous expenditures.
The implementation timeline spans three phases: system design and infrastructure setup, data integration and dashboard development, and full operationalization and scaling.
The proposal anticipates that the LMRC will result in a centralized digital platform integrated with allied departments, improved evidence-based policy formulation, reduced data fragmentation, and stronger analytical foundations for labour market reforms.
It also expects better alignment between training institutions and foreign job market demand, enhanced support for bilateral labour agreements and memoranda of understanding with new and emerging markets, and improved monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
The document further projects that increased skilled workforce outflow, supported by improved data-driven planning, could generate an additional USD 5–10 billion annually.