Unemployment rate in Sri Lanka has risen to 5.7% in the first quarter of 2020, data from the Department of Census and Statistics office informs. The number of unemployed persons is estimated as 483,172 during the first quarter of 2020. The overall unemployment rate reported for females is 9.6% and it is 3.7% for male.
the Department Definition of ‘Unemployed’ is Persons available and/or looking for work, and those who did not work and took steps to find a job during the last four weeks and are ready to accept a job given a work opportunity within next two weeks are said to be unemployed.
Age between 15 – 24 years Youth unemployment rate corresponding to the first quarter 2020 is 26.8% and that is the highest reported unemployment rate among all age groups. Further the unemployment rates for males and females are 21.1 and 36.3 percent respectively for age group 15—24. Department further reveals that the unemployment among females is higher than that and gender – First quarter 2020 of males, in all age groups. Youth and female unemployment contribute more to the overall unemployment of the country.
The highest unemployment rate is reported from the G.C.E (A/L) and above group which is about 10.1 percent. Corresponding percentages are 5.5 percent and 14.7 percent for males and females respectively. Female unemployment rates are higher than those of males in all levels of education Survey results further shows that the problem of unemployment is more acute in the case of educated females than educated males, which was observed consistently over the results of previous survey rounds as well. (CPR)
