The Sri Lankan Government is to pursue labour reforms in the direction of recognising part-time work, as an incentive to produce more skilled labour, Deputy Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Chathuranga Abeysinghe said, yesterday (12).
“There is [a need for] labour reforms, where part time work needs to be formally recognised. It is because the activity done while training cannot be done on a full-time basis. Then to give them that recognition, there needs to be some legal changes,” Abeysinghe said at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Tantri Trailers (Pvt.) Ltd. and Mercy Education Campus – Puttalam, in Colombo.
“Though we are making an effort to increase our exports, and though we are trying to develop our industries, not every industry has the necessary skilled labor force. On one end we do not create jobs that require skill, and on the other end we do not create workers who are skilled. It is because of this that we have a brain drain.”
Abeysinghe said that central to the lack of skilled labour is the inability for youth to find training while under the pressure to earn livable wages, though there may be enough and more opportunities for technical training, according to him.
“The central issue is that most homes are in a state of poverty. The youth leave homes and are unable to receive training, when they do, it is oftentimes unpaid, which discourages them from pursuing skilled labour paths. We need to solve that.”
He further said that as Sri Lanka moves towards creating more export oriented industries, its tariff policy would also have to change. “If we are moving towards developing more export-oriented industries, we are taking steps to make those necessary changes to the tariff policy, which is not an easy task.”
“Before the national policy change happens, it’s important that industries solve this issue. Right now there are 2.3 million Aswesuma beneficiaries. Next there is a youth population that is not willing to join the workforce.”
According to the Department of Census and Statistics’ SDG Indicators for 2025, the total number of youth Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) in 2024 was at 17.2%, with 22.4% of the female population having been disengaged from both the labour market and the education system, and 11.9% from within the male population.
Data from the Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey Quarterly report for 2025, 4.3% of the total labour force were unemployed in last year’s third quarter.