Convocation day feels like arrival. But the real confrontation begins when the applause fades and the market ask a different set of questions.

A Graduation ceremony was one of the most significant milestones in a person’s life. No matter the degree – bachelor’s, master’s or PhD, the day carries a profound sense of accomplishment. The atmosphere was filled with pride and gratitude. Students dressed in their gowns and caps, stood together in graceful decorum, their faces reflecting years of perseverance, discipline and sacrifice. Beside them, parents watched with heartfelt emotion, carrying their own journey of support, patience and unwavering belief.

One by one, students were called to the stage to receive their degrees, posing for photographs with the chief guest, while the audience of fellow students applauded their achievements. After the ceremony, graduates, along with their parents, friends and classmates, captured memorable photographs and celebrated the day with joy. The gowns and caps were carefully folded away and the festivities gradually came to an end, leaving behind memories of a day marked by fulfillment, honor and a deep sense of collective celebration.

Soon after graduation, the true reality check arrives when questions start to arise: What now? What are your plans? What comes next? Such questions were often posed casually, even as the broader realities of the country presented a far more troubling picture. The economic conditions are deeply alarming. Structural instability, limited job creation and a strained market have left thousands of young people standing at the margins. Qualified graduates, degree-holders and even gold medalists found themselves unemployed despite investing years of effort and substantial financial resources into their education. The tragedy is not a lack of talent but a system unable to absorb and utilize its own human capital, leaving many young people feeling displaced within their own country.

At the heart of this crisis lies a persistent structural failure. The country is not short of intelligence, ambition or educated youth; it is short of a stable, coherent system capable of translating potential into opportunity. A structurally fragile and administratively deficient framework – marked by inconsistent policies, weak institutional capacity, limited industrial expansion and zero accountability has produced an economy that generates degrees faster than it generates dignified employment.

This dysfunction is cumulative. Years of short-term decision-making, administrative inefficiency and weak regulatory oversight have eroded institutional credibility. Planning exists in fragments; execution falters and accountability mechanisms remain largely ineffective. As a result, economic direction shifts frequently, investor confidence weakens and structural reform remains deferred rather than implemented.

This condition is not incidental; it is structural. Pakistan’s youth, comprising nearly 64 per cent of the total population, represent one of the largest demographic cohorts in the country, according to the UNDP (2023). Yet this demographic strength is unfolding within an environment defined by economic instability and limited absorption capacity. Data further substantiates the depth of the crisis. According to the Labor Force Survey 2024-25 released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the national unemployment rate has risen to 7.1 per cent, marking the highest level recorded in over two decades. The total number of unemployed individuals has increased to approximately 5.9 million, compared to 4.5 million in 2020–21. Youth unemployment remains disproportionately high, with individuals aged 15–24 experiencing a rate of nearly 12.9 percent, significantly above the national average.

The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) further reports that nearly 31 percent of educated young people are without work – among the highest rates in South Asia. These numbers reveal a systemic disconnect between education and economic absorption. They often culminate in prolonged job searches, unpaid internships, short-term contractual work or wages insufficient to meet basic living standards. The system appears to reward endurance rather than innovation, while structural stagnation transforms delay into personal failure.

For countless young people, the reality of the job market transforms aspiration into apprehension and hope into a stark question:

If even employment is out of reach, what are we supposed to do next?

A regional comparison with India makes the contrast difficult to ignore. Over the years, India has moved ahead in technology, IT services, artificial intelligence, chartered accountancy, engineering and many other professional fields. Indian professionals are visible across global markets and form one of the largest expatriate workforces across the Gulf countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait.

In contrast, Pakistan has struggled to create comparable pathways for its graduates. Professional students, including those pursuing CA and ACCA qualifications, often face prolonged academic timelines and limited domestic absorption into competitive industries. The disparity is not a question of intelligence or capability; it is the absence of a system that supports, guides and integrates its youth into competitive global industries. When structures fail to evolve, they quietly begin to hold back the very people they are meant to uplift.

Convocation day symbolizes achievement, but it also exposes a deeper national question. A country that cannot convert education into opportunity risks turning its greatest asset into quiet despair. The degrees are earned, the effort is real, and the ambition is intact. Yet without structural reform, policy consistency and institutional accountability, potential will continue to drift beyond borders rather than build within them. The future of Pakistan’s youth does not depend on their capability; it depends on whether the system is prepared to evolve in time to receive them.

“Development requires the removal of major sources of unfreedom: poverty as well as tyranny, poor economic opportunities, systematic social deprivation, neglect of public facilities and intolerance or overactivity of repressive states”.

Amartya Sen.

The writer is an Anthropologist, exploring social and cultural issues affecting youth today.