Economic Structure of Major Cities of Pakistan, A Regional Specialization and Concentration Analysis

Abstract

Cities economic structure plays a vital role in the process of city's growth. National economy mostly reflects the performance of its cities and pattern of growth of these cities largely shape the national growth path. The objective of this study is to contribute to the existing research by providing new pragmatic results about regional specialization and spatial concentration pattern and identifying economic base of fourteen major cities, Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Peshawar, and Quetta of Pakistan. The analysis is based on the labour force survey (LFS) data for the years 2005-06, 2009-10 and 2012-13 collected from Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Herfindahl index for regional specialization and geographical concentration are calculated using industrial employment both by industry and by region. It is found that regions specializing in Textile, Wearing Apparel and Leather tend to have comparatively greater value of this index. The results of Herfindahl index for spatial concentration by region revealed that among the cities considered here Karachi has the highest value as it is the only port city in Pakistan. Industries are increasingly clustered in Lahore on account of having a well-equipped infrastructure.  Spatial concentration using industry as a numeraire indicated that in Pakistan basic metal industries tends to concentrate spatially while that of textile industry and food, beverages & tobacco industry are  getting dispersed by location. From Location quotient analysis it is observed Karachi has a comparative advantage in basic metals industry, Sukkur in food, beverages and tobacco industry, Hyderabad in handicraft & other manufacturing industries, Lahore in paper and paper products industry, Faisalabad in textile and wearing appraisal industry, Islamabad and Peshawar in chemical & chemical, petroleum, coal, rubber and plastic products, Gujranwala in basic and fabricated metal products, Quetta in wood & wood products. The economic base of all these cities are consistent from 2005-06 to 2012-13