'Pakistan mein haalat bahut kharab hain': Lahore migrant in Kabul says he earns more in Afghanistan. Watch viral video

A video making the rounds online is turning a familiar migration story on its head. Filmed by Afghan vloggers, the clip shows Pakistani migrants working in Kabul who say, plainly, that they now earn more money in Afghanistan than they ever could back home. For decades, the flow of labour across this border went the other way. Now, with Pakistan's job market under visible strain, that pattern appears to be reversing, at least for the workers featured in this video.

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A reversal nobody saw coming

For years, it was Afghans crossing into Pakistan in search of work, safety, and a functioning economy. The video flips that script entirely. It shows Pakistani nationals now doing manual labour in Kabul, describing Afghanistan, of all places, as the country where wages are better. One of the migrants sums up the situation back home in blunt terms: "Pakistan mein haalat bahut kharab hain."

The numbers behind the mood

The frustration in the video lines up with what Pakistan's own data has been showing. Unemployment in the country climbed to 7.1 percent in the fiscal year that ended in June, its highest level in 21 years, even as the government pointed to 3.7 percent economic growth over the same period. The poverty rate, meanwhile, has surged to an 11-year high of 29 percent. Job losses aren't limited to factory floors or daily-wage work either, economists have flagged a deepening crisis running through every level of the workforce, from fresh graduates struggling to find their first job to experienced professionals being pushed out during corporate restructuring.

Why Kabul, of all places

It might sound unlikely that Afghanistan, a country with its own long list of economic troubles, is now the place offering better pay. But for low-skilled and daily-wage workers, even a modest wage gap can be enough to make the trip worth it. The video doesn't go into exact figures, but the message from the workers is straightforward: whatever they're earning in Kabul, it beats what's on offer in Pakistan right now.

Video, not verified data

It's worth flagging that this account comes from a video circulating on social media, credited to its original creators, and not from an official survey or government report. What it does capture, though, is a mood that tracks with the wider numbers coming out of Pakistan this year, a job market squeezed enough that crossing into Afghanistan, once seen as the harder place to make a living, now looks like the better option to some.