One of the election promises made in the 2015 election was that millions of jobs would be provided in Sri Lanka. This was one of the main poll tricks used in the House. In 2014, Sri Lanka's unemployment rate was 8.6%. But in the year of 2018, Sri Lanka's unemployment rate has risen to 10.6%. The youth and employment are close relatives and as soon as someone enters into the age of a youth, compulsory relationship is acquired. The link between youth and employment in Sri Lanka is very pathetic.The following points are based on the absence of this relation.
According to the Central Bank report, the unemployment rate for all age groups excluding the young age group (15-24 years) was 21.6% in the year 2016. Because of the difficulties in finding suitable employment, young people are more likely to be under-employed , which may impede their chances of getting out of poverty and becoming quotas of the overall growth of the economy.
The New Labor Force Annual Report of the 2015 Labor Force Survey has included the NEET- Not in Employment, Education or Training as a new measure. One out of every four groups of youth in Sri Lanka falls into this category. In 2015, the NEET percentage was 25.8%, while the percentage of young women NEET was more than twice the male figure.
This expresses the dysfunction of the youth and the future risks. By keeping them below the poverty line creates psychological, economic and social problems. In the long run, this will affect the skills of the workforce.
When considering the economic development of the developed countries of the world, it is clear that these were eras when the youth workforce was at a high these countries had made great strides in the development of the country. According to the Census of Sri Lanka, up to the year of 2019 Sri Lanka had a huge workforce of young people but the government has no plans to utilize this fine resource for the economic development of the country. Because of this, the country lost another trump card that would benefit the economic development in 2019.
Skills mismatch is one of the most frequent reasons for eruptions in conversations about youth unemployment. Lack of financial facilities and lack of job oriented training courses are also some of the main reasons. Similarly, Sri Lanka is also lagging behind in technology and economics.Even though the government should give priority to address these issues, there was no progressive action taken in the last budget. Meanwhile, jokes such as the importation of foreign workers are being made.During the past month, a number of unemployed graduates had taken to the media.
In order to get Sri Lanka truly on the right path of development, youth unemployment must be reduced. There are a number of prominent government officials who work for this purpose. In addition to develop traditional practices such as vocational training, financial aid and skills development, new jobs should be created to suit the world today. The gap between education and technology must be reduced. By selling our country's national resources, leasing them or finding other solutions without utilizing them in the country is a problem and not a solution. The road to a million jobs is not far off. What is this government doing by giving false hopes to the unemployed?
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