More than 77 per cent of Sri Lankan graduates work in the public sector, a report released by the Tokyo-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.
The report titled ‘Strengthening Active Labor Market Policies to Drive an Inclusive Recovery in Asia’ further said that graduates whose skills do not match the available occupations in the market and lack specific skills prefer to ‘queue up’ for government jobs.
Majority of the graduates prefer jobs in Sri Lanka’s public service due to job security and financial security, as well as receiving a fixed salary and pension during the employee’s lifetime. On the other hand, the youth’s inability to get ‘better job opportunities’ in the private sector leads to dependence on public sector jobs.
The report further pointed out that it is important for the government to prevent recruiting graduates in public sector jobs continuously to simply absorb unemployed graduates, and instead focus on systematically recruiting skilled people to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.
