Islamabad: According to Gallup Pakistan, long-run labour market data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reveal a quiet but profound transformation in how Pakistanis earn their living. Over the past three decades, Pakistan has increasingly become a salary-dependent society, even as the foundations that typically sustain stable middle-class growth remain weak.

By 2024-25, employees account for about 60% of all earners, up sharply from 47% in 1996-97. Over the same period, the share of self-employed workers declined from 28.5% to 21.8%, while contributing family and unpaid workers fell from 20.8% to 13.5%. At the same time, the share of employers has remained stuck at around 1% throughout-highlighting a persistent scarcity of job creators in the economy.

This means Pakistan is not only short of employers; it is also losing independent earners. The labour market is producing more people who depend on salaries, but fewer people who control their own income and very few who generate employment for others.

The result is a form of middle-class expansion that is numerically large but economically fragile. Without a parallel rise in entrepreneurship and employer formation, salary growth remains vulnerable to macroeconomic shocks, inflation, and weak firm productivity.

This analysis was conducted and released by Gallup and Gilani Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International. It draws on historical data from the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) and Labour Force Survey compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, covering employment status trends.

Gilani Research Foundation is a not-for-profit public service project to provide social science research to students, academia, policymakers, and concerned citizens in Pakistan and across the globe.

Gilani Research Foundation is headed by Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gilani who pioneered the field of opinion polling in Pakistan and established Gallup Pakistan in 1980. Currently, Dr. Gilani, who holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and has taught at leading universities in Pakistan and abroad, is Chairman of Gallup Pakistan.

Gallup Pakistan is not related to Gallup Inc. headquartered in Washington D.C. USA. We require that our surveys be credited fully as Gallup Pakistan (not Gallup or Gallup Poll). We disclaim any responsibility for surveys pertaining to Pakistani public opinion except those carried out by Gallup Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International Association.