Govt Job Shock: Grades 1–22 at Risk
The federal government has decided to eliminate 30,968 government jobs in various departments under its rightsizing plan.
The Cabinet Division Secretary informed the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Wednesday about the scale-wise details of these jobs.
Out of these, 7,724 jobs have been declared as “dying posts” which will be eliminated in the future. Under this decision, a maximum of 7,305 jobs of Scale-1 will be eliminated
, while only two jobs of Grade 21-22 will be eliminated. 36 jobs of Grade 20 and 99 jobs of Grade 19 will be eliminated in the future.
The Cabinet Secretary told the committee that the Prime Minister has directed to reduce the size of the federal government so that efficiency can be improved and focus can be focused on core responsibilities.
In addition, the commercial activities managed by the government are being reviewed to determine their necessity and effectiveness.
Important regulatory bodies will not be affected by this rightsizing, but they have been directed to provide data on the number of advisors, staff, and the salary structure.
Senator Sherry Rehman expressed concern over the government’s reform initiatives and said that on the one hand, the government talks about reducing expenditure, while on the other hhandsize of the federal cabinet has been doubled. She also raised the question of what impact the rightsizing policy will have on government employees,
especially those who will be forced to take early retirement. In response, the Cabinet Secretary acknowledged that the rightsizing decision is important and will lead to substantial savings for the state.
He added that the expenditure has already been significantly reduced by eliminating non-essential jobs. He said that these measures are aimed at increasing operational efficiency in government departments.
The committee members were informed that the performance of the rightsizing committee is being reviewed regularly, and questions are being raised to ensure transparency and accountability. During the meeting, the committee also discussed the final draft of the “Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2025”, which was presented by Senator Zeeshan Khanzada in the Senate session on February 17, 2025.
