Fewer tuk-tuks, more hardhats, Sri Lanka tackles labour crisis
COLOMBO: Asitha Udaya Priyantha has found the dream job: the 22-year- old is already his own boss, cruising Sri Lanka’s streets in his autorickshaw, earning good money on his own time.
But this is not what the island government wants its young people doing as one million jobs in booming sectors such as construction go unfilled, and businesses look abroad for labourers to get work done.
It is a puzzling scenario for Sri Lanka, which for decades has exported labour to the Middle East and reaped the foreign exchange flowing back to an island impoverished from years of war.
But now, amid an economic upswing, the government is trying to lure them back, offering competitive wages and other sweeteners to get workers into blue-collar jobs at home where they are needed.
Policymakers are also being urged to tap another source of underutilised labour: the glut of tuk-tuk drivers on Sri Lanka’s roads.
There are 1.2 million auto drivers in Sri Lanka – far more than is needed for a small island of 21 million, says the union representing tuk-tuk drivers.
The United Three Wheel Drivers and Industry Association says most of the newcomers swelling the already oversaturated ranks are young men keen to make a quick buck.
“The trend is for young people to start driving a three-wheeler no sooner they get a licence,” said Rohana Perera, association secretary of the national United Three Wheel Drivers and Industry Association.
“If we continue like this we will not have young people to do any other job in the country.”
School leavers only need 50,000 rupees ( US$ 333) for a down payment on a three-wheeler, money they can raise easily in loans from family, he added.
Priyantha was attracted to the profession after growing tired of the low pay and long hours at his regular job in a photo studio.
“I saved some money and bought a three wheeler and now I am my own boss,” Priyantha told AFP.
“I have more freedom and I earn twice as much.”
The union wants the government to increase the minimum working age for rickshaw drivers from 18 to 35 to curb the flow of new recruits flooding the overcrowded roads.
There have also been calls for an import ban on trishaws from neighbouring India to curtail supply.
The Professional Three Wheel Drivers’ Association blames Sri Lanka’s lack of vocational training for young graduates getting behind the wheel instead of taking up better paying jobs in under filled sectors.
“Unless there are radical changes to prepare school leavers for gainful employment, they will take a short cut and start driving three wheelers,” the association’s Nishantha Perera told AFP.
The drain of young workers into tuk-tuks compounds a labour crisis for the government, which has overseen robust economic growth since the 37-year civil war ended in 2009. — AFP