Corruption, Capacity Utilisation, and Employment Growth in Pakistan: Evidence from World Bank Enterprise Surveys, 2007–2022

Abstract This study examines changes in corruption exposure, capacity utilisation, and employment growth among Pakistani firms using World Bank Enterprise Survey data for 2007, 2013, and 2022. The study uses publicly available secondary data and employs descriptive and comparative analysis. The results show that bribery incidence declined sharply from 57.23% in 2007 to 19.88% in 2022, while bribery depth fell from 53.66% to 19.27%. Capacity utilisation increased steadily from 73.54% in 2007 to 86.66% in 2022. Employment growth was highest in 2013 at 5.13%, but declined to 2.67% in 2022. The findings suggest that Pakistani firms have experienced a substantial reduction in corruption exposure and improved utilisation of productive capacity over the study period, although employment growth moderated in the most recent survey round. The study contributes to the literature on business environments, corruption, and firm performance in a developing-country context and has implications for policies aimed at improving private-sector development, productivity, and job creation. JEL codes: D22; D73; J23; O53. Data sourceWorld Bank Enterprise Survey Pakistan 2022.Reference ID: PAK_2022_WBES_v01_MDataset catalogue: https://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/6461 LicenceCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).