Leading Issues in the Economy of Pakistan: Agenda for Reforms The labor force surveys also reveal that the growth rate of employment was higher in the PPP tenure then during the period of the PML(N) government, even though the economy grew at a faster rate in the latter period. This is partly attributable to the big increase in jobs in provincial governments after the 7 th NFC Award. The only period when there was a fall in the unemployment rate was in the tenure of the PML(N) government, when it declined from 6.2 percent to 5.8 percent. After the spread of COVID-19, there was a big loss of jobs. Despite the economic recovery in 2020-21 and 2021-22, the unemployment rate remains high of 6.5 percent. This has been recently contradicted by the PBS which estimates the unemployment rate at only 5.4 percent in 2020-21. As highlighted earlier, the growth in employment between 2018-19 and 2020-21 has been consciously overstated as the employment-to-output elasticities are much higher than has historically been the case. As development proceeds, the normal expectation is that the employment will shift from the traditional sector, agriculture, to the modern sectors of industry and services. However, the only period where this has been witnessed is from 2012-13 to 2017-18, when employment declined in agriculture. The fast growth of other sectors enabled absorption of an additional 6.4 million workers during these years. The positive development in the five years of the PPP government was an increase in the share of employees and a decline in the share of the self-employed. This provided for greater job security. Also, the share of jobs in the formal sector has been growing steadily in the three eras. 1.6 Inflation Another key indicator of the performance of a government is its success in restricting the rate of increase in prices, especially of food items. Table 1.7 gives the rate of inflation, overall and disaggregated, in the first and last years, as well as the average, during the tenure of a particular government. The highest average annual rate of increase in the overall consumer price index(CPI) was during the period in office of the PPP government. It was high by historical standards at 11 percent. The assumption to office by the PML(N) government saw a perceptible drop in the rate of inflation, especially in the last three years. Consequently, the five-year average was under 5 percent. The rate of inflation has accelerated during the tenure of the PTI government, from 6.8 percent in 2018-19 to over 12 percent in 2021-22. Throughout the period, 2008-09 to 2012-13, the rise in food prices significantly outpaced the increase in non-food prices. During its first year, the PPP government made a quantum jump in the procurement price of wheat by 52 percent to raise net incomes of farmers and 12