EDITORIAL: The recent performance of the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission has finally shifted the conversation on skills from promise to practice, and that progress deserves recognition. After years of drift, vocational and technical training is being treated less as an afterthought and more as a core economic tool. That change matters because Pakistan’s most pressing structural challenge is no longer just growth, but employability. In a labour market shaped by technology, mobility and certification, demographic scale alone does not generate opportunity. It’s the same old story. Pakistan sits on one of the world’s largest youth bulges. Each year, hundreds of thousands of young people enter working age with limited formal education and even fewer marketable skills. For many, university is neither accessible nor relevant. For others, schooling ends without any pathway into productive work. The result is a workforce trapped between informality at home and exclusion abroad, despite global demand for trained labour across multiple sectors. This gap between potential and preparation has imposed a persistent economic cost. Against that backdrop, the recent gains reported under vocational and technical training initiatives are encouraging. Expanding programmes across sectors, aligning training with industry requirements, introducing third-party validation and linking courses to internationally recognised certification are substantive steps. These measures speak directly to employability and credibility, which are essential if Pakistani workers are to compete in both domestic and international markets. What matters just as much is breadth. Vocational training is too often discussed as if it applies only to a narrow set of trades. In reality, it spans the entire skills spectrum. From plumbers, electricians and carpenters to machinists, welders and technicians, and further up to information technology, logistics, hospitality and specialised services, the economy runs on skills that are learned, practised and certified. Treating vocational education as second-tier has been one of Pakistan’s most damaging policy habits. International experience reinforces this point. Countries that have successfully absorbed large youth populations into productive employment have done so by building strong vocational ecosystems alongside formal education. These systems are defined by industry participation, continuously updated curricula and clear pathways from training to employment. Pakistan has long recognised this model. What has been missing is sustained execution. It’s important to note that execution also depends on coordination. Skills development cuts across federal and provincial jurisdictions, education systems, labour markets and private employers. Without alignment, training risks becoming fragmented or irrelevant. National standards must coexist with provincial delivery. Certification must be recognised across borders and sectors. Employers must be partners, not spectators. Without this integration, even well-designed programmes struggle to scale. This is widely acknowledged, yet effective execution has consistently fallen short. There is also a macroeconomic dimension. Pakistan’s external account relies heavily on remittances, yet too many overseas workers remain concentrated in low-skilled categories vulnerable to policy shifts and wage compression. Raising the skill profile of outbound labour is one of the few sustainable ways to increase remittance value without necessarily increasing headcount. Therefore, vocational training, when targeted properly, can also become an export strategy as much as a social policy. Domestic absorption matters too. Construction, manufacturing, energy, agriculture and services all suffer from productivity gaps linked directly to skill shortages. Informal learning can only go so far. Certified skills improve safety, efficiency and output, raising incomes and competitiveness across sectors. This is how training feeds into growth rather than remaining a standalone intervention. None of this is automatic, of course. Vocational training has failed before because it was treated as an announcement rather than a system. Maintaining quality, enforcing performance standards and resisting politicisation will determine whether current efforts endure. Progress deserves appreciation, no doubt, but durability will depend on follow-through. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026