Pakistan, May 22 -- For generations, recessions carried a familiar image. Factories slowed down, construction sites went silent, truck drivers lost routes, and industrial workers lined up outside closed plants hoping for shifts that never came. Economic downturns were often visualized through smokeless chimneys, rusting machinery, and labourers carrying lunch boxes back home earlier than usual. White-collar professionals, meanwhile, largely believed they existed on the safer side of capitalism. University degrees, corporate offices, air-conditioned workplaces, and polished presentations were seen as shields against economic instability. That illusion is beginning to crack.

The next global recession may not primarily hit factory workers o...