Why Pakistani Youth Lack Access to Career Counselling: A Qualitative Study from Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan has a serious shortage of career counselling services at a time when most of its population is young and in need of support for entering the labour market. The official youth unemployment rate for the 15- to 24-year-old age group stands at 11.1 percent (Pakistan Economic Survey, 2023-24), yet no national policy requires educational institutions to provide career guidance. Existing research on career counselling in Pakistan is limited in scope and concentrated in a small number of urban universities. This study examines the structural, cultural, and institutional factors that contribute to the limited availability of career counselling to Pakistani youth aged fifteen to thirty. It draws on semi-structured interviews with 110 young people selected from Peshawar, Lahore, and Islamabad, and analyses the data using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006, 2019), guided by Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent, Brown, and Hackett, 1994; Lent and Brown, 2020) and the career guidance policy framework of Watts and Fretwell (2004). Six themes emerged from the data: the absence of career counselling institutions and infrastructure; family-controlled career decision-making shaped by collectivist norms; gender-specific barriers to access; unequal access across cities and regions; concentration of aspirations in a narrow set of prestigious fields; and limited awareness combined with high cost. This study is the first large-scale qualitative investigation of career counselling barriers in Pakistan that covers multiple cities. It proposes a three-part policy framework built on legislative mandate, professional training of counsellors, and combined digital and physical service delivery, drawing on evidence from South Korea and India.