IT was a rather tough year for households across Pakistan. And it kept getting tougher all the time. Putting their dreams of climbing up the social ladder, the working masses struggled to retain what they had. And even that was a struggle. In the absence of sufficient opportunities, many could not hold their ground and had to settle for less amid growing confusion about the future.

The year gone by was also peculiar in the sense that never before did a sharp recovery felt so much like a recession in Pakistan. The increasing joblessness, depleting incomes, eroding currency, persistent uncertainty and skyrocketing inflation destabilised the balance to the extent of threatening the food security of many a household.

Food security, as defined by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), exists “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. There were many who failed to make the cut on this count.

From minus 0.5pc in FY20, the economy bounced to post 3.9pc growth in FY21, and, if government claims are to believed, its heading to cross 4.8pc in FY22. Still, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), 16pc of the population is experiencing moderate or extreme food insecurity; 20pc in rural areas, and 9.3pc in urban centres.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) assessed every third citizen, or 38pc of Pakistan population, food-insecure; the worst in South Asia. Similarly, in food gap, stunting and wasting of children, Pakistan found itself behind most others in the region by a wide margin.

Finance guru Shaukat Tarin blamed import-dependency in an agriculture country for the adverse food security situation. Back in June, he said on the floor of parliament: “The 13pc food inflation is because Pakistan has become a net importer of food. You don’t have wheat. You don’t have sugar. We are importing 70pc of pulses we consume. In the global market, food prices are at 10 years high.”

People could have had some hope to deal with hyperinflation had there been less unemployment and even-handed sharing of the growth spurt through wage/salary increase. In the absence of making access to generous incentives and monetary dole-outs to the private sector conditional on job creation and salary-raise, it was pointless to expect businesses to voluntarily put social objectives before profit motives.

The chapter on population, labour force and employment in the current Pakistan Economic Survey reads like a PTI pamphlet listing government initiatives targeting higher labour productivity and employment. Despite all the enumerated details, the initiatives have yet to make an impression in what happens to be a rather alarming job market situation.

On the issue of unemployment, the Survey says: “The pandemic adversely impacted employment and labour productivity by impeding growth in various economic sectors”. Cites PBS data, it says that prior to Covid, the working population of Pakistan numbered 55.75 million. Owing to pandemic-induced lockdowns and containment measures, it declined to 35.04m. After government interventions, it says, 17m of the 20m retrenched were employed back.

A report in September by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) questioned the credibility of the claimed 6pc unemployment rate. The report, also debated upon in the relevant Senate committee, projected 16pc unemployment in the uneducated population and 24pc among degree-holders. In gender terms, 40pc of educated women were out of job in the country.

“A politicised minority shows up on the streets, sometimes protesting against injustice or promoting a cause, but the majority appears collectively resigned to fate. At least that is what it looked like on the surface all through the year. Anyone who cares can feel the simmering discontent among the masses, but it has not spilled over onto streets despite pressing reasons,” says an independent watcher wondering at the patience and resilience of the people.

“How much longer can they endure the mounting economic pressure? My guess is as good as anyone’s. Had I been an advising, I would have insisted not to test the public endurance anymore as it is already touching dangerous limits,” commented another expert.

The masses, however, were put to yet another severe test as winters set in as burners and ovens went cold even in households that were not food-insecure. The mismanagement in the gas sector made everyone run frenetically for affordable alternatives to keep their homes warm, to have functional geysers and to keep the fire in the kitchen alive.

“The government that was voted to power on the promise of ending the elite capture seemed apathetic to the harsh reality of the life of the common man. The voiceless masses have been punished to please the nosy, noisy and aggressive business lobbies,” lamented a Lahore-based textile tycoon.

Over the past year, utility and petroleum rates were revised upward several times on the excuse of rising prices of oil in the global market where increased from an average of $49.99 in January to $83.5 in October. But also true is the fact that the prices weakened to $81.5 in November and down to $74.3 by the third week of December. The relief was not fully passed on to the public.

Life has never been kind to the majority in Pakistan. When things are bad, they are asked to endure economic pain for promised gains that never arrive. When the going is good, they are told to wait for the trickledown effect to take place that never does. The year 2021, in that sense and in many more ways, was no different.