Who's cutting, who's hiring (week of 5 Oct 2026): Faisalabad power looms, a PIFD hiring halt, and the e& merger
Dawn reports 40% of Faisalabad power-loom units shut, with a union claiming 100,000+ jobs lost. The President halts PIFD hiring. How solid each report is.
Status: Reported This roundup summarises named news reports. Each item carries its own label; none is confirmed by the employers concerned. What the labels mean.
About 40% of Faisalabad’s power-loom units have shut, Dawn reports, and a workers’ union says more than 100,000 people have lost jobs. Here’s this week’s jobs news, and how solid each report is.
Every item below carries one of our four labels: Confirmed, Reported, Unconfirmed or Disputed. (What the labels mean.) We say who reported what, and we print company responses where there are any. We never name affected workers.
| Item | What was reported | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Faisalabad power looms | About 40% of units shut; a union claims 100,000+ workers jobless | Reported |
| PIFD (Lahore) | Recruitment for posts in 27 categories halted by the President | Reported |
| e& (Telenor Pakistan + Ufone) | 300 to 500 roles may be cut after the merger (July report, newly added to our tracker) | Reported |
Faisalabad power looms: Reported
What Dawn reported (7 October): A large number of small power-loom units have shut down in Faisalabad and adjoining towns. Around 40% of units have closed in a sector of nearly 800,000 looms, “Dawn has learnt”. Power looms turn yarn into grey cloth; Faisalabad has units ranging from small workshops to factories with 1,000 to 5,000 looms.
The jobs number is a claim. The figure of more than 100,000 jobless workers comes from Aslam Meraj, president of the Textile, Power Loom and Garment Workers Union Faisalabad, who told Dawn: “More than 100,000 power loom workers have become jobless. Power looms are being closed on a daily basis and workers are being terminated.” Dawn presents it as his claim. We haven’t seen an official count.
Why, according to the industry:
- Cheaper imports from China of yarn, grey cloth and finished textiles. Industry representatives told Dawn the imported yarn is largely polyester-based.
- High utility bills, FBR taxes and labour-related costs, according to operators quoted by Dawn.
- Border and road closures. The president of the Faisalabad Sizing Mills Association, Shakil Ansari, told Dawn that border closures disrupted cloth shipments to Afghanistan and Central Asia, and road closures towards Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hit the grey cloth trade and delayed payments from traders.
What the industry is asking for: The Council of Loom Owners Association wrote to Commerce Minister Jam Kamal asking for stronger checks on alleged under-invoicing of Chinese textile imports. It proposed that importers submit the matching Chinese export declaration with their Pakistani goods declaration so customs can compare values, Dawn reported.
Government response: we haven’t found a published response from the commerce ministry as of 9 October.
Why it’s “Reported”, not “Confirmed”: the closure share comes from Dawn’s own reporting and the job figure from a union leader. Neither is an official count. Profit (Pakistan Today) carried the same figures, citing Dawn.
PIFD hiring halt: Reported
What Dawn reported (8 October): The President of Pakistan, who is also chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design (PIFD) in Lahore, has halted recruitment for teaching and non-teaching positions in 27 categories. PIFD had advertised the posts on Sunday, 4 October.
According to Dawn, a letter from the President’s Secretariat to the institute’s registrar said the recruitment process “shall be halted forthwith, until further orders”. The letter, as quoted by Dawn, said a regular or acting vice-chancellor was “yet to be notified”, noted that allegations about previous recruitment at the institute had been reported, and said recruitment should be kept “in abeyance until the review panel furnishes its report”.
Background: In September, the President formed a five-member review panel to examine the governance of the PIFD Senate, Dawn reported on 26 September.
If you applied: there is no new date yet. Keep your application records, and watch PIFD’s official channels for a revised announcement.
e& (Telenor Pakistan + Ufone): Reported, newly added to our tracker
This one is from July, but we hadn’t tracked it before. Business Recorder called the deal Pakistan’s biggest telecom merger, so it belongs on the list.
What Business Recorder reported (6 July): After the merger of Telenor Pakistan and Ufone, the new company was expected to lay off hundreds of employees to remove duplicate roles, sources told Business Recorder. Insiders estimated the workforce could shrink by about 300 to 500. Departments named include sales, marketing, finance, HR, technology, customer services and administration. Business Recorder also reported that compensation under consideration was limited to a few months’ salary. TechJuice reported the same story.
Company response: The merged company’s director of corporate communications told Business Recorder: “At this stage of a newly amalgamated organisation, our focus remains on integration, establishing operating structures, governance and policies. With that priority, we cannot comment on speculation related to internal plans.” That is a decline to comment, not a denial.
Why “Reported”: a named outlet reported it, based on unnamed sources. The company hasn’t confirmed numbers.
What this week tells us, and what it doesn’t
- It tells us job losses in 2026 aren’t only a tech-company story. A traditional industry like weaving is under pressure too, at least according to the people working in it.
- It doesn’t tell us how many jobs were actually lost. The biggest figure this week (100,000+) is a union claim, not a survey or official count.
All three items are now on our News tracker. For every 2026 layoff report so far, see Who cut jobs in Pakistan in 2026?.
Pro tip
If your employer is shrinking, look at what you’re legally owed before you sign anything.
- Get the termination or separation offer in writing. Ask how notice pay, final salary and any unpaid wages are calculated.
- Check your EOBI record. Your contributions continue to matter for your pension. Make sure they were deposited.
- Know the floor for your next job. If you’re looking for factory or shop work, check the minimum wage in your province for 2026-27 before accepting an offer.
Know of a layoff or hiring push we missed? Send us a tip. We verify before we post, and we never publish names of affected people.
Sources
- Dawn, Power loom sector reels under imports, rising costs . Checked 9 Oct 2026 . By Khalid Hasnain, published 7 Oct 2026
- Profit (Pakistan Today), Around 40% of Faisalabad power loom units shut amid Chinese imports, high costs: report . Checked 9 Oct 2026 . Published 7 Oct 2026; based on Dawn's report
- Dawn, President halts PIFD hiring process . Checked 9 Oct 2026 . By Mansoor Malik, published 8 Oct 2026
- Dawn, Review panel to probe PIFD affairs . Checked 9 Oct 2026 . Published 26 Sep 2026
- Business Recorder, Telenor-Ufone merger may trigger job cuts . Checked 9 Oct 2026 . By Tahir Amin, published 6 Jul 2026
- TechJuice, Telenor-Ufone Merger: New Entity 'e&' Might Lay Off 500 Employees . Checked 9 Oct 2026
Drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed above; every figure and link is checked against those sources before publishing. Spotted an error? Tell us (see our corrections policy). Discuss it on LinkedIn.