The Labour Force Survey 2024-25 counts 46.3 million people aged 15-24, with 2.6 million unemployed and youth unemployment at 12.5 per cent. Beyond the unemployed lies a larger and quieter category: close to one in three young Pakistanis is neither in employment nor education nor training. Among women holding degree-level or higher qualifications, unemployment reaches 23.9 per cent, the highest of any female education category. Technical education carries a social discount that pushes able students towards degrees they will not use and the state enforces it through its pay scales. Since the Eighteenth Amendment, technical training rests with the provinces through TEVTA, while NAVTTC coordinates federally and the Higher Education Commission governs universities.