More people take to agriculture - Survey

RAMANI Kangaraarachchi

The total number of employed persons in the country was estimated at 7.2 million in 2008, according to the Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey on employment and unemployment situation in Sri Lanka in 2008 conducted by the Census and Statistics Department, Director, Census and Statistics Department G.Y.D Fernando told a media briefing yesterday at the Information Department in Narahenpita.

He said that 33 percent of them are in the agricultural sector, 26 percent in the industrial sector and 41 percent are in the services sector.

Compared to the corresponding statistics in 2007, there was a two percent increase in agricultural related jobs in 2008 and the number of jobs in the industrial and services sectors had decreased by one percent. The figures of the Northern and Eastern provinces were not included as the security situation in those provinces were not at satisfactory levels. The total number of jobs had dropped by 130,000, he said.

Meanwhile, the number of unemployed persons was estimated at 394,000 and the unemployment rate during this period was 5.2 percent. The unemployment rates for males and females were recorded at 8 per cent and 3.6 per cent which revealed that the female unemployment rate was much higher than the male unemployment figure.

However, there has been a significant decrease in the unemployment rate in 2008 compared between 2003 and 2007.

The number of unemployed persons excluding the Northern province is estimated at 433,000.

The highest unemployment rate of 8.1 percent was reported from the Southern province, which was 8.5 percent in 2007. Comparatively, lower unemployment rates were reported from Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Gampaha and the Moneragala districts. The North Central Province showed the lowest unemployment rate of 3.9 percent compared to other provinces, he said.

The highest unemployment rate was recorded in the Southern Province which was 8.1 and the lowest 3.9 from the North Central Province. The reason is that more people are getting involved in agricultural related jobs, he said.