Sri Lanka ’s unemployment rate marginally increased with youth and female’s unemployment was higher than that of men, finance ministry data showed
The country’s unemployment rate marginally increased by 0.2 percentage point to 4.4 percent in 2018, compared to 4.2 percent recorded in 2017 totalling the unemployed population of 372,593 persons in 2018.
The unemployment rates among females are higher than those males: females and males unemployment stood at 7.1 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively in 2018.
The youth unemployment between the 15 – 24 and 25-29 age groups recorded high at 21.4 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively.
In terms of the level of educational attainment, the highest unemployment rate of 9.1 percent was witnessed from the G.C.E. (A/L) and above group: it was among females at 13.2 percent; among males at 5.1 percent. T
he highest unemployment rate of 6.0 percent was recorded from the Eastern Province . The economically active population in Sri Lanka was 8.4 million in 2018 of which 5.5 million were males whereas the economically inactive population was 7.8 million of which the majority were females.
Finance Ministry says that there was a significant increase in the inactive population including the elderly population which is estimated at 0.53 million in 2018 which requires immediate policy dialogue.
(LI)