More than 85% of employment is informal; over 95% among the poorest population in assessment.
Source
World Bank — https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2025/10/17/fragile-gains-enduring-challenges-charting-pakistan-s-path-out-of-poverty. Verified in source set / retroactive normalization pending.
What it proves
Job quality, stability, productivity and social protection matter alongside quantity.
What it does not prove: Informality describes the employment arrangement — no contract, no registration, no social protection — not illegality or destitution; much of it is ordinary self-employment and small-firm work that generates real income. The 85% figure is a stock at one point and does not by itself show the share is worsening.
Memory hook: 85% informal → job numbers with no contract, pension or protection behind them
Rebuts the claim: "Creating more jobs will by itself pull Pakistanis out of poverty" — the jobs that exist already leave the poorest without stability or social protection.